Support member connections directly welded to the face plate of SC composite walls

Abstract

The structural performance and design of the H-section support member connections directly welded to the face plate of SC composite walls in nuclear power plant has been presented in this paper. The study commenced with an experimental investigation on six support member connections with loading case and connected position as the two main test parameters. Following the experimental study, a numerical investigation was carried out, shedding further light on the stress pattern, failure mode and strength of the support member connection. The developed finite element model was verified against the test results with good agreement observed, enabling a further parametric study to be conducted taking account of a wider range of parameter matrix including steel plate thickness, distance between shear studs, H-section support member size and yielding stress of steel plate. It was revealed from the experimental and numerical investigation that bulging of connected steel plate generally governed the failure mode of the support member connection. The limit state in the design of the support member connection was then clearly defined. Based on the available data, the design equations were finally proposed in this paper to predict the yielding tension, yielding moment, and combined tension and bending yielding strengths for the support member connections directly welded to the face plate of SC composite walls.