engleski

Behaviour of Steel Tubular Knee Joint in Aluminium Frames with Tension-Tie Element

Aluminium portal frames with a tension tie element are a commonly used type of aluminium structure. Due to the significant reduction in aluminium’s mechanical properties caused by welding, typical beam to column joints of such frames are formed using bolts and welded steel knee joints embedded in the structure. Expressions for the reliable assessment of the behaviour of such joints are lacking, thus limiting the use of aluminium portal frames. Although the behaviour of steel joints using hollow sections is well investigated, there are only a small number of studies regarding knee joints, none of which investigate the influence of the tie element on the joint behaviour. Therefore, the first stage of the research is focused on the flexural behaviour of steel knee joints with tension tie elements. Laboratory tests of three identical steel knee joints with a tension tie element were conducted as well as a parametric numerical study with variation of tie element stiffness. It was concluded that different stiffnesses of the tie element have little influence on moment–rotation behaviour of the knee joint, but greatly affect overall frame resistance to vertical loads. It was also concluded that different stiffnesses of the tie element can lead to different failure modes of the knee joint as well.

aluminium frame ; steel knee joint ; rotational behaviour ; tie element stiffness

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