This paper presents the development of an assessment scheme for a visual qualitative evaluation of nailed connections in existing structures, such as board trusses. In terms of further use and preservation, a quick visual inspection will help to evaluate the quality of a structure regarding its load-bearing capacity and deformation behaviour. Tests of old and new nailed joints in combination with a rating scheme point out the correlation between the load-bearing capacity and condition of a joint. Old joints of comparatively good condition tend to exhibit better results than those of poor condition. Moreover, aged joints are generally more load-bearing than newly assembled ones.
Plastic structural analysis may be applied without any difficulty and with little effort for structural member verifications with regard to lateral torsional buckling of doubly symmetric rolled I sections. Suchlike analyses can be performed based on the plastic zone theory, specifically using finite beam elements with seven degrees of freedom and 2nd order theory considering material nonlinearity. The existing Eurocode enables these approaches and the coming-up generation will provide corresponding regulations in EN 1993-1-14. The investigations allow the determination of computationally accurate limit loads, which are determined in the present paper for selected structural systems with different sets of parameters, such as length, steel grade and cross section types. The results are compared to approximations gained by more sophisticated FEM analyses (commercial software Ansys Workbench applying solid elements) for reasons of verification/validation. In this course, differences in the results of the numerical models are addressed and discussed. In addition, results are compared to resistances obtained by common design regulations based on reduction factors χlt including regulations of EN 1993-1-1 (including German National Annex) as well as prEN 1993-1-1: 2020-08 (proposed new Eurocode generation). Concluding, correlations of results and their advantages as well as disadvantages are discussed.
According to Eurocode, the computation of bending strength for steel cantilever beams is a straightforward process. The approach is based on an Ayrton-Perry formula adaptation of buckling curves for steel members in compression, which involves the computation of an elastic critical buckling load for considering the instability. NCCI documents offer a simplified formula to determine the critical bending moment for cantilevers beams with symmetric cross-section. Besides the NCCI recommendations, other approaches, e.g. research literature or Finite-Element-Analysis, may be employed to determine critical buckling loads. However, in certain cases they render different results. Present paper summarizes and compares the abovementioned analytical and numerical approaches for determining critical loads and it exemplarily analyses corresponding cantilever beam capacities using numerical approaches based on plastic zones theory (GMNIA).
The current study attempts to recognise an adequate classification for a semi-rigid beam-to-column connection by investigating strength, stiffness and ductility. For this purpose, an experimental test was carried out to investigate the moment-rotation (M-theta) features of flush end-plate (FEP) connections including variable parameters like size and number of bolts, thickness of end-plate, and finally, size of beams and columns. The initial elastic stiffness and ultimate moment capacity of connections were determined by an extensive analytical procedure from the proposed method prescribed by ANSI/AISC 360-10, and Eurocode 3 Part 1-8 specifications. The behaviour of beams with partially restrained or semi-rigid connections were also studied by incorporating classical analysis methods. The results confirmed that thickness of the column flange and end-plate substantially govern over the initial rotational stiffness of of flush end-plate connections. The results also clearly showed that EC3 provided a more reliable classification index for flush end-plate (FEP) connections. The findings from this study make significant contributions to the current literature as the actual response characteristics of such connections are non-linear. Therefore, such semirigid behaviour should be used to for an analysis and design method.
In der Arbeit werden Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, die Tragfähigkeit von Queranschlüssen an Trägern aus Voll- und Brettschichtholz abzuschätzen. Die Tragfähigkeit dieser Anschlüsse wird nicht allein durch die Tragfähigkeit der mechanischen Verbindungsmittel selbst begrenzt. Die Tragfähigkeit der Verbindungsmittel wird in dieser Arbeit a priori als hinreichend betrachtet. Sie kann z. B. nach der Theorie von JOHANSEN bestimmt werden. Insbesondere bei solchen Anschlüssen, welche unterhalb der Schwerachse von Trägern angeordnet sind, erzeugen die durch die Verbindungsmittel eingeleiteten Lasten Beanspruchungen, welche die Tragfähigkeiten dieser Anschlüsse bestimmen. Die Abschätzung der Tragfähigkeit auf der Basis von Spannungen hat bei dieser Problemstellung methodische Schwächen. Bauteile aus Holz können unter Gebrauchsbedingungen rißbehaftet sein. Mit den Methoden der Linear-Elastischen Bruchmechanik kann die Tragfähigkeit von rißbehafteten Bauteilen beurteilt werden. Es werden wegen der Vielzahl möglicher Ausführungvarianten lediglich Anschlüsse betrachtet, welche mit stiftförmigen Verbindungsmitteln hergestellt werden. Zur Bestimmung bruchmechanischer Kennwerte werden numerische Methoden angewendet. Es werden wichtige Parameter dieser Anschlüsse untersucht und hinsichtlich ihrer Berücksichtigung im Rechenmodell bewertet. Zur Verifizierung des Rechenmodells werden Vergleiche mit experimentellen Untersuchungen anderer Wissenschaftler angestellt. Der Einsatz verschiedener Versagenskriterien wird diskutiert. Schließlich wird ein formaler Zusammenhang zur Abschätzung der Tragfähigkeit für einzelne Verbindungsmittel hergestellt. Weiterhin wird die Tragfähigkeit von praxisüblichen Anschlüssen anhand einfacher Zusammenhänge aufgezeigt.