Date of Award
5-1-2012
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Civil Engineering
First Advisor
Hsiao, Kent
Abstract
When a tension steel plate is welded to a gusset steel plate and a tension load is transmitted to the gusset plate by longitudinal welds along both edges at the end of the tension plate, the shear lag factor (U) is used to determine the design tensile strength for the plate. The shear lag factor is determined from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Manual. The shear lag factor is selected from the table based on the length of the weld and the width of the steel plate that is in tension. The thickness of the plates, boundary condition of the gusset plate, the size and strength of the weld is not taken into account when determining the shear lag factor. This study will investigate if these factors will affect the design tensile strength for a tension plate welded to a gusset plate by longitudinal welds. NISA, finite element analysis software, will be used to determine the ultimate load the tension plate can handle before it fractures. Then the results will be compared to the design strengths calculated by using the shear lag factors earlier stated.
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