A Plastic Hinge Method for Steel Space Frames

A numerial procedure is presented for analizing the inelastic response of space frames. The procedure is based on the concept of the plastic hinge method and includes the effects of material nonlinearities, strain hardening and Bauschinger effect when strain reversal appears, residual stresses and/or geometrical nonlinearities. The plastic deformations in the plastic hinge are obtained by integration of generalized plastic strains of the member section along the assumed hinge length respect to the member axis, therefore, it is necessary to be determined the appropriate hinge length. The efffects of variations of the plastic hinge length are discussed by a few example comparing with the experimental results