Experimental Study and Theoretical Analysis of In‐Plane Bending Stiffness Model of High‐Strength Aluminum Alloy Gusset Joints

ABSTRACT At present, research on aluminum alloy mesh shell structures mainly focuses on ordinary performance aluminum alloy materials, and there are few research results on high‐strength aluminum alloy mesh shells. This article focuses on the joints of high‐strength aluminum alloy mesh shells and conducts a series of research on their in‐plane bending performance. The influence of different material properties, disc thickness, and disc diameter on high‐strength aluminum alloy joints was investigated through in‐plane bending tests. The results show that the in‐plane bending capacity of high‐strength aluminum alloy joints is about 1.48 times that of ordinary aluminum alloy joints. As the thickness and diameter of the circular plate increase, the bending performance of high‐strength aluminum alloy joints gradually improves. The numerical models of high‐strength aluminum alloy joints with different bolt pretightening forces and bolt clearances were established. The results indicate that bolt pretension and bolt clearance only have an impact on the slip phenomenon of high‐strength aluminum alloy joints under in‐plane bending moment and have no effect on the antibending bearing capacity. A trilinear stiffness model for high‐strength aluminum alloy plate joints under in‐plane bending moment was proposed through theoretical analysis. The accuracy of the stiffness model was verified by comparing it with the experimental results.