Moment-resistant building frame structure componentry and method

Abstract

Column-beam building frame structure, wherein columns and beams are interconnected to distribute and share all lateral loads through collars that encircle columns at the nodal points of attachments between columns and beams. Each collar includes inner and outer components which seat, and gravity-lock together, during frame construction, and which also to offer a certain amount of immediate moment resistance to lateral loads. Tension bolt and nut assemblies lock the inner and outer collar components together, and with these assemblies in place, the collars (which circumsurround the beams) function to deliver beam moment loads as plural-position, angularly distributed compression loads to different side regions of columns.

1 . A moment-resistant column/beam structural system comprising 
 an elongate column,    an elongate beam, and    collar structure including an integrated, column-axis-circumsurrounding portion anchored to said beam, and connecting an end of said beam to said column in a manner whereby moment loads are transferred between the beam and the column, inwardly toward the outside of the column via compression simultaneously through plural, confronting bearing faces that are distributed angularly about the long axis of the column.    
   
   
       2 . The structural system of  claim 1  wherein said collar structure includes a column-attachable (CA) member attached to said column, and a beam-end-attachable member (BA) forming at least a part of said integrated, column-axis-circumsurrounding portion, attached to said beam and floatingly seated principally under the influence of gravity on said CA member.  
   
   
       3 . A building structure restable on an external support structure comprising a plurality of upright columns distributed, as seen in plan view, in a row-and-column array, with columns in said array intended to act as load-transfer elements for the transfer of all loads from the building structure to the external support structure, a plurality of generally horizontal beams, each extending between different respective pairs of said columns, and multi-axial, three-dimensional, moment-resistant, collar-form interconnect structure operatively interconnecting said columns and beams at locations of adjacency there between in such a manner that all loads introduced into the building structure are borne substantially throughout the full population of columns and beams, and specifically in a manner whereby such loads are delivered to and responsively shared by all of the load-transferring columns.  
   
   
       4 . A column/beam, moment-load-handling method comprising 
 preparing an elongate column, at a selected location along its length, with plural, compression-reception outwardly facing bearing surfaces distributed at plural, different locations spaced angularly about the column's long axis,    adjacent the column's mentioned selected location, coupling an end of an elongate beam thereto through plural, compression-delivery bearing surfaces which bear against, but which are separate from, different ones of the first-mentioned bearing surfaces, and    with respect to moment loads that are experienced by the beam, delivering such loads to the column via compression developed simultaneously between plural ones of the compression-reception and the compression-delivery bearing surfaces.    
   
   
       5 . A moment-resistant column/beam structural system comprising 
 a column,    a beam, and    interconnect structure operatively interposed and interconnecting an end of the beam to the column in a manner whereby moment loads born borne by the beam are delivered to the outside of the column substantially solely through the interconnect structure, and simultaneously at plural regions that are distributed angularly about the long axis of the column.    
   
   
       6 . A multi-axial, two-dimensional, moment-resistant building structure including plural columns, plural beams, and plural interconnect collars which interconnect adjacent columns and beams at nodes, whereby all moment loads introduced into the structure are distributed and borne throughout the entire structure, with each such load which is delivered compressively by each beam to a column delivered thereto simultaneously on the outside of the column at plural locations distributed about the long axis of the column.  
   
   
       7 . The building structure of  claim 6  wherein said collars are configured whereby moment loads present in beams are distributed to the columns through the collars in the form of bearing-face compression.  
   
   
       8 . A self-stabilizing, moment-resistant, collar-form, elongate-column/elongate-beam interconnect structure for use in a building comprising 
 a collar-form beam-end-attachable (BA) member including plural, operatively associated, bolt-interconnected components possessing plural interconnection bearing faces, and    a collar-form column-attachable (CA) member including plural, operatively associated components having plural bolt-clearance passages and possessing plural interconnection bearing faces,    said BA and CA members being constructed for seated interconnection in a manner whereby gravity causes their respective components' bearing faces to seat self-seekingly and complementarily relative to on another in confronting, bearing-face opposition, thereby to establish nominal, three-dimensional, positional and moment-resistant stability between the two members without the requirement for any other interconnecting structure, said BA and CA members, when so seated relative to one another, and with respect to bolts which include shanks interconnecting said BA members, being positionally related in a manner whereby the shanks in said bolts extend within said clearance passages to impeded unseating of the BA and CA members.    
   
   
       9 . A self-stabilizing, moment-resistant, collar-form, elongate-column/elongate-beam interconnect structure for use in a building comprising 
 a collar-form column-attachable (CA) member including plural interconnection bearing faces, and    a collar-form beam-end-attachable (BA) member including plural interconnection bearing faces,    said CA and BA members being constructed for seated interconnection in a manner whereby gravity causes their respective bearing faces, which faces each lies in a plane which slopes downwardly and away from a column long axis, to seat self-seekingly and complementarily relative to one another in confronting, bearing-face opposition, thereby to establish nominal, three-dimensional, positional and moment-resistant stability between the two members without the requirement for any other interconnecting structure.