Sharif Digital Repository

Purpose: The paper aims to report a fire test conducted on a three-dimensional frame in order to investigate the behaviour of bare steel flush end-plate connections with relatively low thickness at elevated temperatures. Design/methodology/approach: A half-scale model was fabricated and exposed to modified (scaled) ISO 834 heating curve using a semi-open furnace. The maximum temperature inside the furnace reached 1,026 °C. Findings: The rotations of connections are reported and compared with those of a previous study on an exactly the same model with thick end-plates. Various modes of failure such as local buckling of the beams flanges and lateral-torsional buckling of beams were observed... 

Due to high vulnerability of steel structures to elevated temperatures and the need for taking adequate and effective measures to reduce human and financial losses in fires, a thorough understanding of such behaviour is of utmost importance. In this research, a half-scale 3D model, comprising moment-resisting frames, equipped with flush end-plate connections, in one direction, and braced frames in the other, was subjected to a scaled ISO 834 standard fire. The maximum attained temperature was 1055 °C. The results showed that the structure tolerates high temperatures for an appreciable amount of time before collapsing. Moreover, for thick flush end-plates, which were used in this study, the...