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An FHWA research project to assess the performance and design of steel gusset plate connections facilitated actions that addressed one of the final NTSB recommendations.

The most popular way to connect a beam to a column in portal frames is using gusset plates. Wong and Chung (2002) tested gusset plate connections.

"One of the recommendations from the NTSB was that we include gusset plates in load ratings and until that point it hadn't been done," Ocel said.

After Chairman Mark Rosenker made a preliminary announcement concerning the design of the gusset plates, Rep.

Four commonly used penetrating gusset plates were chose in experiments.

For gusset-plate joints, an increase in length of the gusset plate from 4 to 8 inches increased the moment capacity for both glued and unglued joints, but a further increase of the length did not result in any significant increase in the strength.

X-braces were connected to tracks and chord studs using screwed gusset plates. The dimensions and materials of all elements differ from one specimen to another as shown in Table 1 and Figure 4 (in mms).

The number of staples per side and their length varied with the length of the gusset plate as is shown in Table 1.

The changes are in the wing plate and gusset plate configurations.

Bridge Inspection Refresher Training (FHWA-NHI-130053A).This 3.5-day course, designed to refresh the skills of practicing bridge inspectors, is based on the Bridge Inspector's Reference Manual (FHWA-NHI-03-001) and offers additional topics, such as fiber reinforced plastic, inspection of truss gusset plates, structure inventory and appraisal overview, and common National Bridge Inventory miscodings.

Furtherm ore, application of glue in the gusset plates could at least double the moment resisting strength of such joints.