Technical Information

What Is SidePlate?

Technical Information

Testing & Performance

SidePlate™ moment connection systems have been successfully tested for load conditions simulating:

  • Severe earthquakes
  • Actual bomb blast attack, and
  • Subsequent post-blast progressive collapse (monotonic testing)
Test of the connection

Collectively, these full-scale tests consist of nine (11) cyclic tests, two (2) bomb blast tests (with and without a floor system), and three (3) progressive collapse tests (two blast-damaged test articles and one non-blast-damaged test article. Detailed design criteria and patented design procedures were developed and implemented by SidePlate Systems, Inc. to design and fabricate all 16 tests. The performance of each test article was predicted by using high-fidelity physics-based (HFPB) finite element nonlinear analysis, thereby validating the same analytical tools used to predict actual performance for extrapolating performance expectations for member sizes not specifically tested.

The cyclic rotational capacity of SidePlate™ moment connection systems (tested at the Charles Lee Powell Structural Research Laboratories, University of California, San Diego) exceeds all beam-to-column prequalification requirements of ANSI/AISC 341-05. Its double-span progressive collapse capacity (tested at the Kirtland Air Force Base by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), when subjected to monotonic loads simulating gravity forces, surpasses more traditional moment connection systems by as much 2- to 3½- times the gravity load carrying capacity; 2- to 2½- times the rotational ductility; 2- to 5- times the axial tension load capacity; and 4- to 5- times the external energy absorption.

Nationally Recognized Guidelines, Test Program Reports & Design Standards

SidePlate steel frame connection technologies are also highlighted in the following nationally recognized guidelines, test program reports, and design standards:

  • FEMA 267 - Interim Guidelines: Evaluation, Repair, Modification and Design of Welded Steel Moment Frame Structures; Federal Emergency Management Agency [August 1995]
  • FEMA 350 – Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings [July 2000]
  • FEMA 351 - Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings [July 2000]
  • AISC’s Facts for Steel Buildings, Number 2 - Blast and Progressive Collapse; American Institute of Steel Construction [April 2005]
  • NISTIR 7396 – Best Practices for Reducing the Potential for Progressive Collapse in Buildings; U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [February 2007]
  • GSA Progressive Collapse Analysis and Design Guidelines for New Federal Office Buildings and Major Capitalization Projects; U.S. General Services Administration [June 2003]
  • GSA Steel Frame Bomb Blast & Progressive Collapse Test Program Report (2004-2007) [January 2008]
  • GSA Case Study: Impact of Steel Frame Connection Attributes on Construction Costs [February 2008]
  • Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) – Design of Buildings to Resist Progressive Collapse (UFC 4-023-03); U.S. Department of Defense [2008]