Experimental Analysis of the Bending Behavior of Structural Metal Joints Based on the Use of Girder Clamps to Service Life Extension of Existing Structures

The objective of this work is mainly focused on the structures that support the facilities and machinery present in industrial plants. Service life extension of existing structures is one of the current objectives of the industry. The lay-out of the production has to constantly adapt to changes in production, variations in demand and new products. These changes of model or demand, usually imply important changes in the facilities and machinery and therefore in the structures that support them. Currently, these support structures are destroyed at each lay-out change, mainly because an easy reconfiguration of the support structures is not possible. To achieve service life extension of existing structures it is necessary to use easily reconfigurable, reusable and removable structures. Currently there are already solutions of structures that are removable and reconfigurable but mainly in aluminum beams. Nowadays, there are no definitive solutions for steel structures manufactured with standard shapes (standard steel beams). The use of clamp joints for steel profiles would be a very interesting solution and would allow the manufacture of completely removable and reconfigurable structures. This paper proposes and uses a methodology for the experimental analysis of the bending behavior of this type of joints depending on the length of the profile flange.