Authors: L. Magalhães, C. Rebelo, S. Jordão

The main purpose of the investigation presented is the characterisation of the nonlinear cyclic behaviour of steel joints between I profile beams and hollow section columns with welded reverse channel. The welded reverse channel connection is a good solution since it allows for a bolted joint between I beam to hollow column. Furthermore, this type of joint detail has a reasonable construction cost, is easy to implement and possesses large ductility through the deformation of the web panel. In this paper some results are present related to the experimental investigation on the behaviour of welded reverse channel joint components. The behaviour of the reverse channel main components (web face in bending, flanges panels in shear, compression and tension) is assessed by means of bending tests (monotonic and cyclic). The main objective of these tests is determining the strength, stiffness and rotation capacity of the main components of the reverse channel joining detail. The study results, allow present the behaviour of this type of joints when the parameters involved in U profile range. The geometry of the loaded area and the dimensions of the flanges and web, are parameters which have influence on the connections’ structural behaviour.

L. Magalhães¹ | C. Rebelo² | S. Jordão²
1Equiparado a Professor Adjunto, ISISE, IPCB, Castelo Branco – Portugal.
2Professor Associado. ISISE – FCTUC, Coimbra – Portugal.