In most cases, the local failure of the connection in a steel framed
structure affects the serviceability criteria of the entire structure.
Hence, it is necessary to study and understand the behaviour and
failure mechanisms of connections used in steel framed structures. In
view of this, the paper describes the experimental, theoretical and
numerical investigations conducted on the bolted moment end plate
splice connection joining Hollow Tubular Sections (HTS). In this study,
a four-bolt end plate connection configuration is adopted for the
fabrication of splice connection, and also a parametric variation of the
dimensional properties of the connection components such as
thickness of end plate, diameter of bolt, and thickness of HTS member
is considered. In the theoretical analysis, using the stub tee analogy
method new design equations are predicted to compute the ultimate
moment capacity of the proposed splice connection. In the numerical
analysis, the behaviour of end plate splice connection (with the
parametric variation) is studied using finite element package ANSYS in
detail. Finally, a comparative study is done between the obtained
results of theoretical, numerical with the experimental results to
validate the accuracy of predicted design equations and the proposed
numerical model.