The authors' examination of end plate connections, with particular reference to thin column flanges, provides reassuring evidence of the ductility of such connections, albeit with some loss of strength. The criteria adopted for assessing the yield moment in the tests seem unduly conservative when one considers the well-formed plateaux of the moment-rotation curves. For double beam connections in a multi-storey frame, it would not be unreasonable to anticipate hinge rotations of the order of 30 x 10-3 radian and on this basis J1 almost qualifies as a full-strength connection instead of the half-strength assessment applied by the authors.
J.O. Surtees, J.H. Howlett and R.C. Hairsine