Abstract
By using geometrically and materially nonlinear Finite Element Analysis the dimensionless ultimate moment as a function of the slenderness of a right angled isosceles bracket (arm length/thickness) is calculated for a range of Young's modulus/yield strength values covering most of the practical cases. Both simply supported and fixed boundary conditions on the sides connected to the flanges of the beams are considered. As the dimensionless results are in an EXCEL-table, the generation of several design alternatives is very fast and the designer can choose the final size by taking into account also other criteria which are important in the case under consideration. For stiffened brackets the ultimate moment is presented as a function of the dimensionless stiffness of the stiffener for different arm length/thickness ratios and for different gap lengths at the end of the stiffener. These results can be used for avoiding overdimensioning of the stiffener. Illustrative examples are presented.
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