Design of aluminium beam ends with flange copes

• The resistance of coped aluminium beam end is investigated experimentally.
• Top flange-coped and double flange-coped beams are examined.
• Existing coped beam models and bracket models are used for comparison.

This paper presents the results from an experimental investigation of the capacity of coped aluminium beam ends. Various tests were performed on top flange-coped I-beam ends loaded by a reaction force on the bottom flange and on top flange-coped and double flange-coped beam ends supported with end plate and web angle connections. The effects of the cope length and depth, the beam end moment and the buckling restraints from the connections were investigated. A design model for the top-coped beams supported on the bottom flange was proposed. Various capacity predictions from existing models for triangular brackets and models for coped steel I-beams were compared with the test results and were shown to provide reasonable results.