CE 415: Design of Steel

Structures
Course Teacher: Sinha Lamia Sultana (SLS)

1
Bolts
 Structural Fasteners
In the construction of a steel structure, member are fabricated at factory and assembled at
site.

 Bolts
Bolts are commonly used to assemble different components of a steel structure.

Bolt, nut & washer

 Structural Fasteners
 Rivets
Rivets were more widely used in the past but their used has decreased.
Disadvantages of rivets: required more skilled labour, more inspection, also needed to be
heated and installed at very high temperatures.
 A325 bolt is most commonly used
 A490 bolt is occasionally used
 Both of these are heavy hexagon head bolts with heavy hexagon head nuts
 The ASTM designation is on the top of the head as shown
Load Transfer through a bolted joint

The transfer of service loads through a joint is due to

i) friction developed in the pieces being joined
ii) the bearing stress developed between the bolt shank and the bolt holes.

Types of bolted joints

 Friction type bolted joint:

Joint containing high-strength bolts are designed either as slip-critical where high slip resistance is desired

 Bearing Type bolted joint:

As bearing type where high slip resistance at service load is unnecessary
Possible Limit States or Failure Modes for bolted connections
Possible Limit States or Failure Modes for bolted connections
 Tensile Strength of a bolt shank

The nominal tensile strength Rn of a bolt

𝑅𝑛 = 𝐹𝑢𝑏 𝐴𝑛
Where, 𝑅𝑛 = nominal strength of a bolt
𝐹𝑢𝑏 = tensile strength of bolt material
𝐴𝑛 = net area of bolt at the threaded portion
𝐴𝑏 = gross area of bolt shank
Generally 𝐴𝑛 = 0.75𝐴𝑏 to 0.79𝐴𝑏
 Bearing type bolts
Bearing type bolts have two limit states
i) Shear Strength
ii) Bearing Strength

 Shear Strength

Nominal shear strength per bolt, 𝑅𝑛 = 𝑚𝐴𝑏 𝐹𝑛𝑣

Where, 𝐴𝑏 = gross area of bolt at shank

𝐹𝑛𝑣 = nominal shear stress of bolt
 Bearing type bolts

 Shear Strength continued..

Case I : No threads in shear plane Case II : When threads are included in shear plane
𝐹𝑛𝑣 = nominal shear stress of bolt = 0.5𝐹𝑢 𝑏 𝐹𝑛𝑣 = nominal shear stress of bolt = 0.4𝐹𝑢 𝑏
𝐹𝑢 𝑏 = tensile strength of bolt material 𝐹𝑢 𝑏 = tensile strength of bolt material

If nothing mentioned about shear plane, assume threads are included in shear plane (Case II)
 Bearing type bolts
 Bearing strength

Nominal Bearing Strength per bolt, 𝑅𝑛 = 1.2𝐿𝑐 𝑡𝐹𝑢 ≤ 2.4𝑑𝑡𝐹𝑢

Where,
Lc = clear distance
t = thickness of plate
d = dia of bolt
Fu = Ultimate tensile strength of plate material
After investigating the strength in both shear and bearing, the smaller value controls.
The next step is to find the design strength as per LRFD or ASD

Design strength (LRFD) = Φ𝑅𝑛

Where, Φ = 0.75

𝑅𝑛
Allowable strength (ASD) =
Ω
Where, Ω = 2.00
Example 1
Example 2:
Hints:

Check shear.

Threads excluded from shear plane, so case 1: Fnv = 0.5Fbu

Single shear plane, so m=1.

Check bearing for any one plate. Ignore the other plate. Both plates are exactly same.

Answer : 72kip (ASD)