Experimental study of bi-axially loaded endplate joint in aluminium

What is it about?

In this paper we consider the measurements of bolted end-plate connections of tubular beams with cold-formed hollow rectangular aluminium sections. The motivation for these measurements originates from the fact that the aluminium standard (EN 1999-1-1) [1] does not cover the design of this very frequently used type of connection, where the bolts are located outside the edge-lines of the cross-section, i.e. corner bolts. Many tests and studies regarding this area have been conducted, but this paper brings value to the case where bi-axial bending is applied. The measurements have been carried out and the detailed results shall be shown. In this paper, we will focus on the six measurements where the tubular beams were bent uniaxially and biaxially to these limit points. The tests were stopped when the ultimate limit state was reached. In this case the connection never actually broke, but effectively the joint had lost its load bearing capacity. Some residual capacity still remained, but the displacements were too great resulting in a totally different behavior of the connection. The behavior of this connection is highly non-linear, since aluminium (AW 5754) as a material is strain hardening and the mechanism in the connection changes as the displacements increase.

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Why is it important?

Bi-axial tests not available elsewhere for endplate joints

Perspectives