03.17: Design of haunches in structural steel joints

ABSTRACT The paper presents research into the advanced design of stiffeners in structural steel joints. Experimental results of six specimens of haunches with and without flanges are presented. Three specimens are without flanges and three specimens are supported by additional flanges. Flanges differ in stiffness to observe the increase of haunch resistances and its effect on buckling shapes. Haunches with and without flanges are validated by numerical model to tests and resistances are calculated and evaluated. The research finite element model (RFEM) is studied by material and geometrical nonlinear finite element analysis with imperfections under the actual stress conditions and validated on the measured experimental data. The quality of prediction is demonstrated on the comparison of load‐deflection curves and failure modes. The stability analysis of a joint with a haunch is used for design Component Based Finite Element Models (CBFEM) of complex joints. RFEM allows verifying the design FEM model (DFEM) and component based FEM model (CBFEM) developed for the design of complex joints in steel structures. To avoid local buckling of slender plates in CBFEM a design procedure is proposed and verified on research finite element model (RFEM). It is proposed to use a combination of material nonlinear analysis without imperfections with buckling analysis in CBFEM. The verification is shown on an example of a haunch in a welded portal frame joint. The stiffener is studied by numerical analysis, resistances and critical loads are determined in RFEM and CBFEM and results are compared. A numerical study illustrates the effect of the haunch's thickness on the joint's resistance.