The Effect of the Slot Length on Beam Vertical Shear in I-Beams with Moment Connections

This paper evaluates the effect of slot existence with limited length between flanges and web junction of I-shaped beams at the region of moment connections on vertical force and shear stress distribution in beam flanges and web at connection section in comparison with classical theory of stress distribution. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of the slot in connections such as slotted web beam to column connection in modern age. The issue of the slot has many benefits but very little studies have been done on it. Accordingly, one hundred and twenty models with two moment connections under the concentrated static load in mid span have been made for doing parametric study in ANSYS Workbench finite element software. The linear static analysis was done on all constructed models. Variable parameters in these models for parametric study include slot length between flange and web junction in connection region (from 0 to 190 mm), beam length, beam section height and Poisson’s ratio of beam material. In all models the amount of shear stress in section height over the section vertical axis in connection region and also the devoted contribution from force which goes to flanges and web under the concentrated load on mid span have been calculated. Performed studies have shown that vertical shear stress distribution in beam to column connection section with moment connection differs a lot from what is stated in mechanics of materials equations. Practically the available equations in regulations which state that web receives the entire vertical shear and ignore the contribution of flanges are not reliable. In addition, studies have shown that the slot existence in junction of web and flanges in connection section with limited length can has great effect on the quality of vertical shear stress distribution over the section of connection and also the slot existence has great effect on the reduction of shear stress in flanges and increase in shear stress in web according to classical theory. As a total result, nowadays slotted web beam to column connection can be used as a fantastic and simple idea to improve modern connections behavior.