Experimental Study of Block Shear of Gusset Plates in Welded Connection

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

2 Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

Abstract

Block shear failure is one of the most common failure types of connections in steel structures which have been investigated by many researchers. In this study, block shear failure of welded connections subjected to a uniform tension field were experimentally investigated. For this purpose 6 specimens of welded connection of gusset plates to flat bar were developed. The mechanical behavior of the connection and pertaining failure types were identified. The tests parameters included the gusset plate thickness, the overlapped area, shear and tension plane of the gusset plates. Nonlinear load-displacement curve response for all specimens was presented. The failure load of block shear was assumed to be the maximum load reached during the loading history. For all Specimens the mode of failure was the block shear. Observation during the experiments showed that crack nucleation occurred at the maximum load (failure load) so that a single crack or two symmetrical cracks nucleated after the toe of the weld at the end of tension plane for all specimens and the load suddenly dropped after crack formed. Although, no shear fracture was observed at the time of the tension plane fracture in all of the tests, a significant deformation was observed at the shear plane because of yielding of this plane.

Keywords

Experimental Research in Civil Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
October 2014
Pages 111-118

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