Energy dissipation characteristics of semi-rigid connections

This study presents the energy dissipation characteristics of semi-rigid connections obtained from 48 full-scale cyclic tests. The energy calculation was performed on the hysteresis loops obtained from the experimental data in which the area under the outer loop of each hysteresis was calculated. This study reports that the energy dissipation characteristics of the welded/bolted connections are not directly dependent on the individual parameters defining the hysteresis loops, while the shape of the hysteresis is dependent upon the nonlinear interaction of its parameters coupled with connection plasticity and pinching which governs the energy dissipation capability of the connections.