Determination of displacement distributions in welded steel tension elements using digital image techniques

It is known that material properties, connection quality and manufacturing methods are among the important factors directly affecting the behavior of steel connections and hence steel structures. The possible performance differences between a fabricated connection and its computer model may cause critical design problems for steel structures. Achieving a reliable design depends, however, on how accurately the material properties and relevant constitutive models are considered to characterize the behavior of structures. Conventionally, the stress and strain fields in structural steel connections are calculated using the finite elements method with assumed material properties and constitutive models. Because the conventional strain gages allow the measurement of deformation only at one point and direction for specific time duration, it is not possible to determine the general characteristics of stress-strain distributions in connections after the laboratory performance tests. In this study, a new method is introduced to measure displacement distribution of simple steel welded connections under tension tests. The method is based on analyzing digital images of connection specimens taken periodically during the laboratory tension test. By using this method, displacement distribution of steel connections can be calculated with an acceptable precision for the tested connections. Calculated displacements based on the digital image correlation method are compared with those calculated using the finite elements method.