Reliability analysis of steel connection components based on FEM p L.A.C. Neves a , P.J.S. Cruz a, *, A.A.R. Henriques b a Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Azure Âm, 4800-058 Guimara Äes, Portugal b Department of Civil Engineering, University of Porto, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal Received 19 July 1999; accepted 12 February 2000 Abstract An analytical description of the behaviour of a connection has to cover all sources of deformabilities, local yielding, local instabilities, etc. Due to the multitude of in¯uencing parameters, a macroscopic inspection of a complex connection Ð by subdividing it into components Ð has proved to be most appropriate. This is the approach recently proposed by the Eurocode 3. One of the basic components is the equivalent T-stub, which adequately models several parts of a connection: column ¯ange in bending, end plate in bending and ¯ange cleat in bending. Reliability techniques combined with non-linear analysis of structures have been applied to interpret the eects of parameter variability on the T-stub behaviour. Simpli®ed safety rules are derived from this probabilistic high-level approach. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Fasteners; Finite element analysis; Joint failures; Structural steel; Reliability analysis 1. Introduction The behaviour of connections is extremely important for structural design, in¯uencing price [1] and response to both static and dynamic loads. Research in steel and composite connections has been the subject of an intensive eort in recent years. Despite the large advances that have already been achieved, many open questions still remain unanswered [2,3]. The main goal of this work is to improve the knowledge of the behaviour of connection components, in particular the T-stub, and to propose simpli®ed and coherent design rules. Special attention will be Engineering Failure Analysis 8 (2001) 29±48 1350-6307/01/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S1350-6307(00)00009-1 www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal p Paper presented at the conference Integrity, Reliability, Failure (Porto, July 1999) * Corresponding author. Tel.: +351-53-510-200/203; fax: +351-53-210-203. E-mail address: pcruz@eng.uminho.pt (P.J.S. Cruz).