Block tearing and local buckling of aluminum alloy gusset joint plates

Aluminum Alloy Gusset (AAG) joints widely used in the single-layer latticed shells have a significant application prospect in spatial structures. Unfortunately, studies on the resistance of AAG joints are insufficient, leading to a lack of applicative design methods for this joint system. This paper is devoted to investigate the resistance of AAG joint plates. Firstly, tests on fourteen AAG joint specimens are carried out to explore their collapse modes. Experimental phenomena show that the main collapse modes of AAG joint plates include the block tearing of top plates and the local buckling of bottom plates. Secondly, Finite Element (FE) simulations to investigate the mechanical behavior of AAG joints are performed by means of the non-linear FE code ABAQUS. Thirdly, formulae for predicting the block tearing resistance and the local buckling resistance of AAG joint plates are proposed, which are based on theoretical analyses. Fourthly, test results are of great help in the determination of parameters k and α which are adopted to modify the block tearing resistance and the local buckling resistance respectively. Finally, a comparison of test results verifies that theoretical formulae are applicable. In addition, in order to avoid the block tearing and the local buckling of AAG joint plates, convenient design criteria are provided.