An accurate and efficient method for large deflection inelastic analysis of frames with semi-rigid connections

In the conventional analysis and design of steel frames, a pinned or rigid jointed assumption is normally made. However, all practical joints are neither frictionless pinned nor fully rigid. This characteristics has an important influence on the behaviour of the structure. The bending moment determined according to these extreme joint conditions is also erroneous. In this paper, a displacement-based finite element technique using the incremental secant stiffness approach and considering the effects of joint flexibility for the nonlinear analysis of two- and three-dimensional frames is presented. The suggested method has the advantage over the currently available methods in its accuracy in handling large deflection analysis in three-dimensional space and fast rate of convergence.