Dynamic behavior of composite structures with composite connections

Steel-concrete composite structures probably provide the best compromise for the building of the city of tomorrow, combining speed of construction, environment friendly solutions and optimising the advantages of steel and concrete in construction. Guidance for connection design of composite structures and its influence on the global behaviour of the structure under dynamic conditions is still scarce. A research project between the University of Coimbra, University of Minho, Institute Superior Tecnico, University of Beira Interior and Martifer aiming at producing guidelines for design of steel and composite semi-rigid frames under static and dynamic loading, with major focus on the influence of the connections is presented. This project comprises three major tasks: The characterisation of the dynamic behavior at the structure level, The evaluation of the dynamic response of major and minor axis composite connections and The investigation of the behavior of various connection components. Focussing on task 2, results from a series of tests on extended end-plate beam-to-column major and minor axis composite connections are presented and compared with analytical predictions.