Research on the Effects of Scissor-Brace Arrangement on the Stability of Socket-Type Cup-Lock Scaffolds with Random Initial Imperfections

Scaffolding， which provides temporary platforms for workers， has become an integral part of modern construction. However， frequent accidents caused by the collapse of scaffolding due to the repeated use of its poles， which seriously endangers the personal safety of workers. In practice， the bending geometric imperfections in scaffolding upright poles are random. It has been found that under the influence of such random geometric imperfections， the arrangement of scissor braces significantly has a great impact on the bearing capacity of the scaffold. Therefore， this paper established a refined finite element model of the scaffold with scissor braces based on the stochastic finite element analysis method through the ANSYS finite element software， and studied the influence of varying the number of vertical scissor braces on the load factor and buckling mode of the scaffold. The research showed that the load factor of the scaffold was determined by its buckling mode. The span of the scissor braces was proportional to the bearing capacity of the scaffold. Specifically， the bearing capacity increased by 165.2% in the scaffold without lateral constraints， and by 146.9% in that with lateral constraints. Furthermore， the positioning of the scissor braces also influenced the bearing capacity of the scaffold. For the same number of diagonal braces， differences in the intersection positions along the x and y directions led to varying effects. In the scaffold with lateral constraints， arranging braces every 6 spans resulted in a higher buckling coefficient， while in the scaffold without lateral constraints， arranging them every 8 spans was more effective. This arrangement also affected the number of load factor domains.