Experimental investigation for seismic performance of framed structures having longitudinally profiled plates

This paper presents an application of hot-rolled-thickness tapered steel plates, longitudinally profiled (LP) plates, for improving seismic resistance performance of portal-framed bridge pier bents. The scale of the model was 2.0 m beam length, 2.0 m column height using centerline framing dimensions and the rectangular stiffened cross section of LP plate for flange and constant thickness plate for web. One portal model which has different tapering ratios at both the end panels of the column flanges was tested, and another model with the constant cross section of 330×250×6 mm was also tested for comparison.The main conclusion of this study is that the optimum tapering ratio of the LP plates can lead to larger spread of yield zones with less strain concentration compared to the uniform thickness plate. Seismic design guidelines are also proposed for portal frames having LP plates.