A Study of Methods for the Evaluation of Stress in Gusset Plates

摘要

The loading, instrumentation and testing of a structural steel gusset plate, although reduced to half scale under laboratory conditions, is expensive and a time consuming setup. The photoelastic test models using boundary loads are inexpensive, tests can be performed with comparative ease, can be adopted to a large number of geometries and load conditions, and the use of diffused light polariscope will furnish a useful pattern of the stress field. The photoelastic method is a complementary to more advanced, computerized stress analyses. The various analytical methods, including the elementary one, indicate that the maximums of stresses found in a gusset are only slightly different, and the major error being in the location of those maximums. The location of the maximums, however, are of only secondary importance in designing gussets. (BPR abstract)