Steel structures – Laboratory

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1. BOLTED CONNECTIONS
1.1 RANGE AND CLASS OF THE SCREW FASTENERS

 Diameter of bolts for building structures: M10, M12, M16, M20, M24, M27, M30
 Class of bolts:
3.6, 4.6, 4.8, 5.6, 5.8, 6.6, 8.8, 10.9, 12.9

high strength bolts

10.9
- 0.01 fu
- 0.1 fy/fu

 Materials:
- low carbon steel
- carbon steel
- alloy steel (bolts class 8.8 and 10.9)

 Methods of production
- hot or cold plastic working
- mechanical working
- mechanical and plastic working
- heat treatment (hardening + tempering) high
strength bolts

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.
 Steel structures – Laboratory
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 Class of nuts:
4, 5, 8, 10, 12.

 Bolts class high than 4.8 i 5.6 and nuts class 4 should be marked.

 Tolerances for fasteners.

Depending on the accuracy of proper dimensions and geometrical and the surface roughness
three grades of making screws are being distinguished:
- high grade A
- mid - range grade B
- coarse grade C

 In non preloaded connections are used bolts 4.8 i 5.6 grades (B) or (C):
d  20 mm  4.8
d > 20 mm  5.6
In preloaded connections are used high strength bolts 8.8 10.9 grade B (mid - range grade).

 Washers

shim
washer
flat washer high strength washer

 Drawing symbol of bolts

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.
 Steel structures – Laboratory
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1.2 CATEGORIES OF BOLTED CONNECTIONS

CATEGORY „A”: SHEAR CONNECTIONS BEARING TYPE

 Shear connection – external force direction is perpendicular to bolt axis.

 External force is transferred by shear of the bolt shank or bearing bolts to connection element.

 For simplification of the montage, the hole diameter is greater than nominal bolt diameter:
for d14 mm do=d+1 mm
for 16d24 mm do=d+2 mm
for 27d44 mm do=d+3 mm.

 In elements bolt holes can be punched or drilled. During the punching a steel is deformed and its
plasticity is decreased along hole edge. Therefore punching is used for steel plates with
thickness less than t25 mm.

 Nuts should be established so that marking the class is visible.

 When the surface of element is drawn aside more than 3 from the perpendicular to the bolt
axis, the shim washer should be used.

 Tightening of the bolts: connected elements should be cling together. Tolerance less than 2 mm
is acceptable if this is not give in design recommendations. Bolts should be manual tightening
till “first point of resistance”. First point of resistance is defined as a tightening nominal hand
wrench with one hand power.

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.
 Steel structures – Laboratory
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EFFECTIVE LENGTH OF THE BOLTS IN SHEAR CONNECTIONS

Class
of 4.8 5.6 10.9
bolts
Bolts
diameter M12 M16 M20 M24 M30 M20 M24 M27
number of
2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
washers
Length of
the bolts l, Range of the effective length for bolts , mm
mm
40 5 7.5 7.510
45 1012.5 12.515
50 1517.5 17.520 6 9 912
55 2022.5 22.525 1214 1417
60 1719 1922 610 1014 1016
65 2224 2427 1415 1519
70 2729 2932 1920 2024 812 1216 1620 2026 1218
75 3234 3437 2425 2529 1617 1721
80 3738 3942 2930 3036 2122 2228 914 2630 3036 1822 2228 1520
90 3640 4046 2832 3238 1419 1924 3640 4046 2832 3238 2025 2530
100 4650 5056 3842 4248 2429 2934 4650 5056 3842 4248 3035 3540
110 5660 6066 4852 5258 3439 3944 5660 6066 4852 5258 4045 4550
120 6670 7074 5862 6266 4449 4954 6670 7074 5862 6266 5055 5560
130 6670 5458 7478 6672 6064
140 5863 6368 7276 7680 6469 6974
150 7479 7984
160

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.
 Steel structures – Laboratory
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CATEGORY „C”: SHEAR CONNECTIONS SLIP-RESISTANT AT ULTIMATE LIMIT STATE

 Shear connection – external force direction is perpendicular to bolt axis.

 External force is transferred by friction between connected elements. The friction force is a
result of the bolt preloading. In this connection a high strength grade bolts are used. The friction
surfaces should be adequately prepared.

 Hole diameter and technology, method of washers and nuts tightening is similar like the joint
A category.

 High strength washer should be established phasing side adjacent to head of the bolt and nut.

 For preloaded bolts the design preload Fp ,Cd .to be used in design calculations should be taken
as: Fp.Cd  0,7  fub  As /  M 7 , where As is the tensile stress area of the bolt and fub is the ultimate
tensile strength of the bolt. Nominal value of the preload force should be specified in design
documentation.

 At tightening of the nuts, treated part of the bolt and washer under turn off part of connection
should be greased by the graphited grease or molybdenum paste.

 Tightening the bolts in prestressed joints should make connectors successively from the middle
of everyone multi-bolts connections, repeating the entire procedure all the way to getting regular
stretching the bolts.
 One of the major problems with the use of bolted joints is the precision, with regard to
achieving an accurate preload, of the bolt tightening method selected. Insufficient preload,
caused by an inaccurate tightening method, is a frequent cause of bolted joint failure.

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.
 Steel structures – Laboratory
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 There are six main methods used to control the preload of a threaded fastener. Specifically:
1. Torque control tightening. Controlling the torque which a fastener is tightened to is the most
popular means of controlling preload. The nominal torque necessary to tighten the bolt to a
given preload can be determined either from tables, or, by calculation using a relationship
between torque and the resulting bolt tension.

Bolt Bolt class 10.9 Bolt class 8.8

diameter
Preload Torque moment1) Preload Torque moment1)
force Mo [Nm] force Mo [Nm]
Fp.Cd [kN] Light oiling2) MoS2 paste Fp.Cd [kN] Light oiling2) MoS2 paste
M12 60 130 110 47 100 85
M16 110 320 260 88 250 210
M20 172 620 510 137 500 410
M24 247 1070 900 198 880 720
M27 321 1560 1300 257 1250 1050
M30 393 2120 1750 314 1700 1400
1)
at preload force equal 0.5 Fp.Cd, the torque moment 0.5 Mo
2)
also by the graphited grease.
2. Angle control tightening. The method has been applied for use with power wrenches, the bolt
being tightened to a predetermined angle (120 to 240) beyond the elastic range and results
in a small variation in the preload due, in part, to the yield stress tolerance.
3. Yield controlled tightening. The electronic wrench can allowed to detect the yield point of
the fastener with reasonable precision.
4. Bolt stretch method. The method uses a small hydraulic ram which fits over the nut, the
threaded portion of the bolt/stud protrudes well past the nut and a threaded puller is attached.
5. Heat tightening. The bolt is heated and expands; the nut is indexed (using the angle of turn
method) and the system allowed to cool.
6. Use of tension indicating methods. This category includes the use of special load indicating
bolts, load indicating washers and the use of methods which determine the length change of
the fastener.
 Class of friction surface.
Slip factor  for pre-loaded bolts:

Class of friction Slip factor 

surface
A 0.50
B 0.40
C 0.30
D 0.20
Surface preparation
A1 – Blast with shot of grit without pitting
A2 – Blast cleaning or shot blasting and spray
metallized with Alluminium
A3 – Blast cleaning or shot blasting, spray metalized
with a zin based c A pulverisation, and slippage test
Blast cleaning or shot blasting, with alkali-zinc
silicate paint with a thickness of 80 microns
Wire brushed or flame cleaning and removing all
scale or rust
Untreatment

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.
 Steel structures – Laboratory
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TENSION CONNECTIONS – PRELOADED OR NON - PRELOADED

 tension connection – external force direction is parallel to bolt axis.

 In the tension joint, the bolt and clamped components of the joint are pre-load designed to
transfer the external tension load through the joint by way of the clamped components through
the design of a proper balance of joint and bolt stiffness. The joint should be designed such that
the clamp load is never overcome by the external tension forces acting to separate the joint

 The forces within a connection which result from the deformation of the connected parts are
known as prying forces. In bolted tee-connections, these forces cause an increase in the tensile
load on the bolts.

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.
 Steel structures – Laboratory
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1.3 FASTENERS OF THE THIN SHEET METAL (t< 3mm)

 sheet metal screw - has sharp threads that cut into a material such as sheet metal, plastic or wood.
 self-tapping machine screw - is driven into an untapped hole.
 self-drilling screw - Teks screw - has a drill-shaped point to cut through the substrate to
eliminate the need for drilling a pilot hole.

 plain rivet – with two side access.

 blind rivet - the rivet assembly is inserted into a hole drilled through the parts to be joined and a
specially designed tool is used to draw the mandrel into the rivet.

 sheet metal nail – designed to jointing sheet metal with solid steel elements and concrete.

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Lecture 3: Bolted connections.