Experimental study of clip angle bolted connection between two cold-formed steel channels Available to Purchase

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the load–deflection relationships, ultimate load and behaviour of beam-to-beam cold-formed steel (CFS) channels connected with clip angles using various connection configurations. In total, 24 specimens were tested to determine the optimum aspect ratio of the clip angle leg in order to improve the connection without significant loss of strength under four-point bending. The parameters studied included the aspect ratio of the attached legs of the clip angle and the thickness of the clip angle. The results showed that a distortional buckling mode of failure occurred in either one leg or both legs of the clip angle depending on the clip angle thickness and the aspect ratio of the anchored leg and the loaded leg connected to the CFS channel. Graphs of rotational stiffness against the percentage of ultimate moment were plotted to determine the ductility of the connection. The experimental results from this work indicate that the design equations from a previous study in the literature are slightly conservative at service load and over conservative at ultimate load.