Abstract In stability analysis of steel frames, the effective length method requires the calculation of the K-factors, which can be difficult and subject to error in many moment frame configurations and requires significant engineering judgment for some frame types. This is of crucial importance for the design of modular prefabricated buildings, made of volumetric frames, and connected through corner inter-module connections, where the K-factors account for the contribution of complex boundary conditions to the axial load carrying capacity of a column. The direct use of effective lengths, provided by the conventional buildings' standards for the stability analysis and design of modular buildings may lead to either unsafe or conservative results, depending on the performance of inter-modular connections as an important roleplaying boundary condition. This paper studies the effective length factors (K-factors) of columns in both sway and non-sway frames, in corner-supported steel modular buildings. For each case, first, the governing equations for the elastic buckling load of a typical column in an assemblage of a corner-supported modular frame are derived and solved numerically to obtain the effective length factors for two different systems: vertically connected and horizontally connected modular frames. Alignment charts are provided for different relative bending stiffness ratios of joints. Then, parametric studies are conducted to investigate the influence of relative stiffness ratios of inter-modular connections and their type on the effective length factors. Finally, modified formulas based on American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) standard codes are proposed to obtain the effective length factor of columns in both sway and non-sway modular frames.

中文翻译：

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模块间连接对多层组合钢框架柱有效长度的影响

摘要 在钢框架的稳定性分析中，有效长度法需要计算K因子，这在许多弯矩框架配置中可能很困难并且容易出错，并且对某些框架类型需要大量的工程判断。这对于由体积框架制成并通过角部模块间连接连接的模块化预制建筑的设计至关重要，其中 K 因子解释了复杂边界条件对柱的轴向承载能力的贡献。直接使用有效长度，由传统建筑标准提供，用于模块化建筑的稳定性分析和设计，可能会导致不安全或保守的结果，取决于作为重要角色扮演边界条件的模块间连接的性能。本文研究了角支撑钢模块化建筑中摇摆和非摇摆框架中柱的有效长度系数（K 系数）。对于每种情况，首先，推导和数值求解角支撑模块化框架组合中典型柱的弹性屈曲载荷的控制方程，以获得两个不同系统的有效长度因子：垂直连接和水平连接模块化帧。为不同的接头相对抗弯刚度比提供了对中图。然后，进行参数研究以研究模块间连接的相对刚度比及其类型对有效长度因子的影响。最后，