Abstract
The research reported herein investigated the behavior of gapped K-connections comprising square hollow structural sections (HSS) for a chord and a compression branch, a high-strength tensile rod for a tension branch, and a pair of longitudinal plates separated by distance for a connecting element. The main experimental parameters for 12 specimens were the width-to-thickness ratio of the chord (2γ) with 16.7 ≤ 2γ ≤ 33.3, the width ratio between the compression branch and the chord (ß1) with 0.5 ≤ ß1 ≤ 0.875, and the width ratio between the tension branch to the chord (ß2) with 0.42 ≤ ß2 ≤ 0.82. Experimental results showed that the general failure mode was a combination of chord plastification and punching shear. It was also found that the width ratio between the tension branch and the chord (ß2) has a greater effect on the connection strength. Since there was no equation in CIDECT that could be used to estimate the strength of the connections tested in this study, a new equation was proposed from the yield line analysis.
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