HOLLO-BOLTS IN IDEA STATICA

INTRODUCTION
The term Hollo-bolt, refers to a brand of expansion bolts that is particularly useful for connections of
hollow sections (SHS / HSS etc).

In the UK, their use is so widespread, that the SCI included a couple of annexes in their Green Book (SCI
P358). We have several requests from clients to include them in our bolt library by default.

The purpose of this document, is to introduce a workaround for these bolts, so that we can use them in
IDEA Statica today. We want to share this with our colleagues, and maybe gain some more insight from
their experience.

Of course, we also want to verify and bullet-proof this workaround, as its use is very important for our
market. So, we are open to comments and suggestions.

THE HOLLO-BOLT SYSTEM

The resistances of the Hollo-Bolt system are provided in tabular form (see Figure 1)

Figure 1: Characteristic resistances (excerpt from Lindapter 2017 Catalogue 270)

The SCI P398 publication provides a resistance table, that essentialy has converted the characteristic values
to design ones using the material factor γΜ2=1.25. It also introduces the concept of tension resistance for
structural integrity checks which is the tensile design resistance increased by about 14%.

Shear Normal Tension Structural RSI / RT

Resistance resistance (RT) Integrity Tension
Resistance (RSI)

kN kN kN -
M8 26,3 18,5 21 1,14
M10 43,4 31,7 36 1,14
M12 56,8 36,6 41,6 1,14
M16 111 67,4 76,6 1,14
M20 169 99,2 113 1,14
Table 1: SCI P358 resistance table

IDEA Statica UK ● 1
Another thing that separates hollo-bolts from normal ones, is the fact different edge and hole distances
limits are required. Also, different bolt hole tolerances. The user should manually check these.

Figure 2: Bolt holes distance limits and clearances (excerpt from Lindapter 2017 Catalogue 270)

WORKAROUND FOR USE IN IDEA

This workaround is based on the fact, that when shear plane does not pass through the bolt thread, the
shear resistance per shear plane uses the gross cross section of the bolt A, and the tensile resistance uses
the tensile stress area of the bolt As.

So, we perform a back calculation using the 8.8 bolt grade (this seems to be used all over the SCI
publication). Although this is not important for the final resistance it is highly recommended for consistency
with the current literature to use the bolt grade referenced above.

The formulas from Table 3.4 of EN 1993-1-8 take the following form
𝑎𝑣 ∙ 𝑓𝑢𝑏 ∙ 𝐴 𝛾𝛭2 ∙ 𝐹𝑉,𝑅𝑑 𝐹𝑉,𝑅𝑘
𝐹𝑉,𝑅𝑑 = ⇒𝐴= ⇒𝐴 =
𝛾𝛭2 𝑎𝑣 ∙ 𝑓𝑢𝑏 𝑎𝑣 ∙ 𝑓𝑢𝑏
𝑘2 ∙ 𝑓𝑢𝑏 ∙ 𝐴𝑠 𝛾𝛭2 ∙ 𝐹𝑡,𝑅𝑑 𝐹𝑡,𝑅𝑘
𝐹𝑡,𝑅𝑑 = ⇒ 𝐴𝑠 = ⇒ 𝐴𝑠 =
𝛾𝛭2 𝑘2 ∙ 𝑓𝑢𝑏 𝑘2 ∙ 𝑓𝑢𝑏

gross section tensile area As

area A from Fv,Rk from Ft,Rk

mm2 mm2
M8 68,5417 32,0833
M10 112,9167 55,0000
M12 147,9167 63,6111
M16 289,5833 117,0833
M20 439,5833 172,2222
Table 2: Bolt characteristics from back calculation

It is now possible using those values to copy a similar grade 8.8 bolt from our library and just replace the
values calculated at Table 2 and the bolt hole tolerance presented in Figure 1.

IDEA Statica UK ● 2
VERIFICATION
A verification was made using an M10 bolt after a client request, where we can see that the values
presented in the SCI Table 1 are successfully recalculated using the work-around.

USER CHECK LIST

The user must always have in mind to check the bolt distances from edges and between them manually as
it seems that limits other than the Eurocodes’ ones apply.

Also, the user must make sure that the “shear plane in thread” is not checked, otherwise the calculated
shear resistance will be less than the one provided by the manufacturer.

IDEA Statica UK ● 3