Pull-out behaviour of aluminium screw port joints: experimental and numerical investigation

Special joint systems are obtained by means of mechanical fasteners located in semi-hollow parts of aluminium extruded shapes. The aluminium industry showed great interest on these joints due to many advantages: easiness, simplicity, rapid execution, material optimisation and machining reduction. A typical case of these special joints, namely screw port, consists of a screw engaged in a slot of an extruded profile. Screw port joints are used in several structural and nonstructural applications such as fa¸cades, door and window frames. Nevertheless, no clear design rules are provided by aluminium structural codes. For this reason, an experimental campaign aimed at assessing the influence of different geometrical and mechanical parameters on the pull-out behaviour of screw port connections has been carried out at the University "Federico II" of Naples. In addition, on the basis of experimental results, non-linear finite element models have been developed and calibrated in ABAQUS environment.