A moment resisting connection for earthquake resistant structures

This paper proposes a new moment resisting detail for use in earthquake resistant structures. The wedge detail tested in this project is a new design that builds upon the idea of inducing a plastic hinge away from the column face to dissipate the energy that would otherwise yield the connection. The plastic capacity of the beam is locally reduced by decreasing the depth of the web and reforming the flange to the new beam profile. This makes the section more plastic, so reducing the buckling problem suffered by other reduced section joints.Laboratory testing shows that the joint is capable of plastic rotations greater than 0.05 rad without any significant loss of energy dissipation capability, which is far in excess of the requirements for a joint given by the latest standards based on post-Northridge data.