Sway of semi-rigid steel frames: Part 1: Regular frames

Lateral sway is most likely to control the design of semi-rigid steel frames where the frame arrangements do not include any form of bracing. This paper investigates the sway behaviour of semi-rigid regular steel frames, i.e. frames having the same arrangement of beam and column sections at all levels, and hence proposes some design charts for the prediction of sway that eliminate the need for doing any numerical modelling. Schueller’s equation has also been modified to incorporate connection flexibility in addition to its original rigid frame considerations. All the proposed methods have been validated using results obtained from numerical analysis.