The present paper reports a thorough experimental investigation into the net section failure behaviour and capacity of stainless steel staggered bolted connections in tension. The testing programme was carried out on 31 stainless steel staggered bolted connection specimens, with 18 made of austenitic stainless steel (grade EN 1.4301), 7 made of duplex stainless steel (grade EN 1.4462) and 6 made of ferritic stainless steel (grade EN 1.4016). The geometric parameters, including the transverse and staggered pitches, and the staggered bolt hole patterns of the connection specimens, were varied. The test setup and procedures, as well as the key experimentally observed results, including the net section failure modes and loads, are reported in detail. The experimentally obtained net section failure loads and modes are analysed and discussed, and then utilised to assess the accuracy of the established design rules for stainless steel staggered bolted connections, given in the European, American and Australian/New Zealand standards. All three examined standards consider (i) net section fracture and (ii) gross section yielding in the design of stainless steel staggered bolted connections, and specify that the design failure load shall be taken as the minimum value calculated from all potential failure modes. It was found that the current design standards lead to overly conservative and scattered failure load predictions as well as inaccurate failure mode predictions. A new design approach based on the continuous strength method (CSM) is proposed, and shown to result in substantially improved predictions of both failure loads and failure modes.

本文报告了对不锈钢交错螺栓连接的净截面破坏行为和承受力的能力进行的彻底实验研究。测试程序针对31个不锈钢交错螺栓连接样本进行，其中18个由奥氏体不锈钢制成（EN 1.4301级），7个由双相不锈钢制成（EN 1.4462级）和6个由铁素体不锈钢制成（EN 1.4016级） ）。改变了几何参数，包括横向和交错节距，以及连接样本的交错螺栓孔样式。详细报告了测试设置和程序以及主要的实验观察结果，包括净截面破坏模式和载荷。对实验获得的净截面破坏载荷和模式进行了分析和讨论，然后根据欧洲，美国和澳大利亚/新西兰标准评估不锈钢交错螺栓连接的既定设计规则的准确性。所有这三个检验标准都考虑了（i）不锈钢交错螺栓连接的设计中的净截面断裂和（ii）总截面屈服，并规定设计失效载荷应取为根据所有潜在失效模式计算出的最小值。已经发现，当前的设计标准导致过于保守和分散的故障负荷预测以及不准确的故障模式预测。提出了一种基于连续强度法（CSM）的新设计方法，该方法显示出对破坏载荷和破坏模式的预测大大改善。