• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.537-549
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• 2001

The effect of partially restrained(PR) connections and the uncertainties in them on the reliability of steel frames subjected to seismic loading is addressed. A stochastic finite element method(SFEM) is proposed combining the concepts of the response surface method(RSM), the finite element method(FEM), the first-order reliability method (FORM), and the iterative linear interpolation scheme. The behavior of PR connections is captured using moment-relative rotation curves, and is represented by the four-parameter Richard model. For seismic excitation, the loading, unloading, and reloading behavior at PR connections is modeled using moment-relative rotation curves and the Masing rule. The seismic loading is applied in the time domain for realistic representation. The reliability of steel frames in the presence of PR connections is calculated considering all major sources of nonlinearity. The algorithm is clarified with the help of an example.