Full-scale testing of stiffened extended shear tab connections under combined axial and shear forces

Owing to the lack of a comprehensive published procedure for the design of stiffened extended shear tabs, practicing engineers usually follow design guides for unstiffened shear tabs. The results of recent laboratory experiments and numerical analyses have demonstrated that improvements to this approach are warranted. Furthermore, design methods for this connection type under combined axial and shear forces are not well established. To address these shortcomings, full-scale laboratory tests were carried out on the double-sided configuration of stiffened extended beam-to-girder shear tab connections with full depth shear plates. These experiments were complemented by a continuum finite element (CFE) study, with which the axial force demands along with other critical parameters that affect the connection behaviour were further examined. The experiments supported by the CFE findings indicated that the primary connection damage states are mainly associated with yielding and fracture of the shear plate due to the interaction of flexural, shear, and axial force. The study demonstrated that the direction and magnitude of the applied axial force significantly affected the shear and axial demands along the centerline of the interior bolt line. The current design practice for the double-sided configuration of the full-depth extended beam-to-girder shear tab was also evaluated; a significant underestimation was observed in the prediction of a connection’s ultimate resistance.