Design charts for end-plate beam-to-column steel joints

The component method provided by Eurocode 3 for the evaluation of strength and stiffness of beam-to-column joints is considered a very laborious procedure that is often difficult to apply. This is owing to the large number of geometrical and mechanical parameters involved in the analytical formulations. Hence, the component method is only seldom used for practical applications, with the consequence that the real behaviour of joints in terms of strength and stiffness is not accounted for. The aim of this paper is to provide an automatic tool that allows an easy-to-use application of the component method for the evaluation of beam-to-column joints stiffness and strength, and also enables plotting of the moment-rotation curve describing the joints' behaviour. Moreover, the proposed tool is used to carry out parametric analyses for two bolt-rows in end-plate beam-to-column steel joints. This is addressed to the definition of design charts for the optimal selection of joints.