Shear Lag Factors for Tension Angles with Unequal-Length Longitudinal Welds

: When a tension load is transmitted to some, but not all of the cross-sectional elements of a tension member, the tensile force is not uniformly distributed over the cross-sectional area of the tension member. The non-uniform stress distribution in the tension member is commonly referred to as the out-of-plane shear lag effect. The unequal-length longitudinal welds and the in-plane shear lag effect, however, are not addressed by the current American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Specification for the determination of the shear lag factors for tension members other than plates and Hollow Structural Sections (HSS). The purpose of this work is to propose a procedure for the computation of shear lag factors accounting for combined in-plane and out-of-plane shear lag effects on unequal-length longitudinal welded angles. The finite element method using three-dimensional solid elements and nonlinear static analyses accounting for combined material and geometric nonlinearities are conducted in this work to verify the accuracy of the proposed procedure.