Y. Liu et al.
/ Journal of Constructional Steel Research 62 (2006) 132–143
(a) Plan view.
(b) Front elevation view.
Fig. 3. Reaction beam and load cell connection.
included in the test program to study the effect of the length
of gap between the end of a slot in the HSS bracing member
and the forward edge of a knife plate. Ten specimens with
a nominal knife plate thickness of 12 mm and two with
a nominal knife plate thickness of 18 mm were tested. To
investigate the effect of HSS wall thickness, two specimens
with a nominal wall thickness of 4.8 mm were tested and
compared with similar specimens which had a nominal wall
thickness of 6.4 mm. The length of longitudinal fillet weld
attaching a knife plate to a HSS along the edges of the
slots cut in the HSS was nominally 150 mm. In the case of
135
one specimen, the nominal length was 200 mm in order to
determine if the weld length had any effect. To investigate
the effect of stress range on the fatigue life of a knife
plate connection, four specimens with only slight fabrication
variations were cyclically loaded in tension at different
stress ranges between zero and a prescribed maximum.
Prior to application of cyclic loading, specimens KPC01 and
KPC09 were instrumented with strain gauges and statically
loaded in tension up to a prescribed load level well below
yield to investigate the elastic stress distribution and stress
concentration in the vicinity of the end connections.