Back in June there was an article in “Modern Steel Construction” with 60 tips for simplifying steel moment connections. Just the fact that someone can come up with 60 simplifying tips tells you something about the state of moment connection design anymore. That aside, one of the tips warned to pay attention to sloping beam to beam moment connections due to the vertical component of the flange force.
I have a project to finish if it ever comes back off the shelf (hopefully soon) that has quite a number of sloping beam to column moment connections. I know this is not the same, but it got me thinking if there is something that I may overlook when the time comes. The vertical component of the beam flange force should transfer directly into the column flange through the weld. Correct? If the weld checks out then all should be o.k., right? Or is there some consideration to a slight bending of the flange since the beam web is coped back a bit in the connection? Any comments would be appreciated.
In addition, I do have some software to do the connection design, but unfortunately it doesn’t take into account a sloping beam. Something I did not know until after the purchase. Are there any spreadsheets out there, preferably free or cheap, that is available to do the design for these connections?
Thanks,
Joe Grill