Experimental Study of Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Hinged Plates with Different Configuration Hinge Joints

Abstract

To study the role of vertical shear stress on the ultimate bearing capacity of hinge plates under fatigue loading, and different configurations of hinge joints on ultimate bearing capacity of hinged plates, three groups of hinged plate experiments were studied. Two groups of hinge plates with shallow hinge joint configurations were tested with static loading and fatigue loading respective, a group of hinge plates with deep hinge joint configurations were tested with fatigue loading directly. The ultimate bearing capacity analysis of hinge plates was carried out through mid-span deflection differences of hinged plates on both sides of hinge joints and transverse strains on top and bottom of hinge joints. Shown from the experimental results, for the hinge plates with shallow hinge joints, the ultimate bearing capacity under static load was 342.9kN, and under fatigue load was 340kN, but the ultimate bearing capacity under fatigue load of hinge plate with deep hinge joints was 610kN. Therefore, the vertical shear stress is not the main factor which cause the hinge joints destruction of hinge plates; hinge joints configurations, especially the depth of the hinge joints have great impact of ultimate bearing capacity of hinge plates; in the strengthen checking of hinge joints while hinge plates design, checking the vertical shear strength only is not comprehensive, various factors should be taken into account.