A twin shear beam model for double chord RHS joints

A finite element elasto-plastic analysis of a twin shear beam model, developed to shed light on the behavior of separated double chord gap joints of rectangular hollow sections (RHS), is presented. The model treats a single beam member as composed of a plate simulating its inner web and a channel representing top and bottom flanges and the outer web. The twelve degrees of freedom (DOF) nonconforming plate bending element and the eight DOF plane …