Lap shear tests of bolted and screwed ferritic stainless steel connections

• A series of lap shear tests of bolted and screwed ferritic stainless steel connections was carried out.
• EN 1993-1-1 approach is recommended for net section resistance and in EN 1993-1-8 approach for bearing and block tearing resistances.
• If the failure criterion is the ultimate load in test, the design expression given in EN1993-1-1, EN 1993-1-3 and EN 1993-1-8 result in all tests in a safe outcome.
• In order to ensure that the deformation at the fasteners is not too large in SLS, an extra reduction factor of 0.9 should be considered in some cases.

The development of design guidance for stainless steel structures requires more tests on ferritic grade connections. This paper deals with a series of lap shear tests which have been carried out on various configurations of bolted and screwed connections. The tests demonstrate net section failure, bearing failure and block tearing failure. The material is a ferritic stainless steel of grade 1.4509 (AISI 441) with a thickness of 0.5–4.5 mm. The results are utilized in developing design guidance in accordance with Eurocodes.