Static and fatigue testing of partial penetration groove welds in aluminum structures**

加拿大的铝结构设计者在桁架结构的经济设计方面遇到了挑战，因为加拿大设计规范对在这些结构中使用部分接头熔透(PJP)坡口焊缝施加了限制。在加拿大，目前设计规范通过特定的语言或设计强度计算中的惩罚措施强烈反对使用这些焊接。对国际规范的回顾表明，使用这些外国标准将产生更经济的设计。这让人们对加拿大法典施加的严厉惩罚产生了一些怀疑。在此背景下，目前的项目旨在测试包含PJP焊缝的连接，以调查这些惩罚的有效性，并开始建立更好的模型用于设计。主要的研究挑战将是提高我们对铝板和管材结构中PJP焊缝的静力和疲劳性能的理解，并将其与各种相关国际结构和焊接设计规范中相互冲突的条款联系起来。计划进行40项实验室测试，以调查PJP焊缝在直接拉伸和管状连接中的行为。这些测试将考虑各种因素的影响，例如焊缝的壁厚和熔透程度，还将包括循环(疲劳)载荷，这在桥梁应用中至关重要。该实验计划将得到并行有限元(FE)分析研究的支持，该研究将产生一个模型，该模型可以在未来用于将研究结果扩展到其他关节几何形状。为了将两者联系起来，将在结构试验期间获得数字图像相关(DIC)测量。预计这项研究的结果将立即转化为行业合作伙伴和制造其设计的当地加拿大拥有的铝制造商的好处。结果还将被传播，使加拿大铝业的其他人受益。

Canadian designers of aluminum structures are encountering a challenge in the economical design of truss structures, because of restrictions that the Canadian design codes place on the use of partial joint penetration (PJP) groove welds in these structures. In Canada, these welds are currently strongly discouraged by design codes through specific language or penalties in the design strength calculations. A review of international codes reveals that more economical designs would result from using these foreign standards. This has raised some doubt concerning the harsh penalties imposed by the Canadian codes. Against this background, the current project aims to test connections containing PJP welds to investigate the validity of these penalties, and to begin to establish better models for use in design. The main research challenge will be to improve our understanding of the static and fatigue performance of PJP welds in aluminum plate and tubular structures and relate it to the conflicting provisions in the various relevant international structural and weld design codes. 40 laboratory tests are planned to investigate the behaviour of PJP welds in direct tension, as well as in tubular connections. These tests will consider the influence of various factors, such as wall thickness and degree of penetration of the weld, and will also include cyclic (fatigue) loading, which is crucial in bridge applications. The experimental program will be supported with a parallel finite element (FE) analysis study, which will result in a model that can be used in the future to extend the findings to other joint geometries. In order to link the two, digital image correlation (DIC) measurements will be obtained during the structural tests. It is expected that the results of this research will translate to immediate benefits for the industry partner and the local, Canadian-owned aluminum fabricators who fabricate their designs. The results will also be disseminated to benefit others in the Canadian aluminum industry.**********