Plastic over-strength of short and intermediate links

The aim of the paper is to establish values of over-strength factors (ratio of the plastic strength developed at a target shear deformation angle and the yielding strength) of shear links, by searching for a relationship between geometric and mechanical properties. The main motivation for this study was found in recent numerical analyses and experimental test results highlighting the inadequacy of design code provisions. The analyses demonstrate also that the over-strength factor is directly associated with the link geometry. A simple formula is suggested for evaluating the over-strength factor as a function of few simple parameters. A direct comparison between suggested numerical over-strength factors with experimental test results demonstrates the applicability of the proposed relationship to European hot-rolled profiles. But further study is needed for a refinement accounting for different local slenderness ratios and more realistic cyclic loading protocols.