Abstract

This paper presents a procedure to determine the yielding shear resistance of expanded metal panels. The methodology is based on the analysis of the failure mechanism in which expanded metal panels subject to shear fail. According to this mechanism the strands in the expanded metal cells along the diagonal of the panel fully attains their plastic capacity in the connecting nodes, consequently the apparent tension field action is transformed into a plastic flexural mechanism due mainly to the geometry of the cells. Yielding shear resistances calculated according to the proposed methodology show a fairly good correlation with available test results. Furthermore, the shear response of expanded metal panels is described using a bilinear model, in which, the first part is defined by the initial secant stiffness and limited by its yielding shear resistance. Afterward, the bilinear behavior follows the postyielding stiffness. Analytical expressions are also presented for these two parameters herein. Lastly, the results show that the yielding resistance of expanded metal panels depends on the orientation and size of the cells, and on the number of cells in the direction parallel to the applied load.