CENG 5503 - Steel and Timber Structures

Chapter 5 : Connections
 Objectives
• Introduction
• Types of connections
– Bolted Connections
• Tensile are of bolts
• Bolt Grades
• Mode of Failure
• Design of Bolts
– Welded Connections
• Types of Welds
• Design of Welds
 Introduction
• A structure is an assembly of various members which
must be connected together.
• Due consideration should be given to the design of
connections.
• However, efficiently the components are designed, if
the connections are in adequate the result will be a
week structure.
 Cont’d
• Connections are needed to join:
– Members together in trusses and lattice girders
– Plates together to form built-up members
– Beams to beams, beams, trusses, bracing, etc to
columns in structural frames; and
– Columns to foundations
• Connections in steel structures are normally made by
– Bolting and
– Welding
• Some typical connections are shown on next slide
Figure. Typical connections
 Bolted Connections
• These are connections whose components are fastened
by bolts.
• Bolts are manufactured from mild steel or high strength
steel.
• Bolt consists of a head and a shank.
• The lengths of the shank are different to suit different
jobs.
• The size of the bolt is the diameter
of the shank.
• The shank is threaded at the end
to receive nut.
 Tensile stress area for Bolts
• The tensile area for different bolts given in the
following Table
Bolt diameter Tensile area Shank area
mm mm2 mm2
12 84 113
16 157 201
20 245 314
22 303 380
24 353 452
27 459 572
30 561 707
 Bolt Grades
• The nominal values of the yield strength fyb and
ultimate tensile strength fub to be adopted as
characteristic values in calculation are given below:
Bolt grade 4.6 4.8 5.6 5.8 6.8 8.8 10.9
fyb (Mpa) 240 320 300 400 480 640 900
fub (Mpa) 400 400 500 500 600 800 1000

fub = first number x 100

fyb = first number x second number x 10
 Modes of failures for bolted connections
• A shear joint can fail in the following four ways:
1) by shear on the bolt shank
2) by bearing on the member or bolt
3) by tension in the member and
4) by shear at the end of the member
• The failure modes are shown on the next slide
Figure. Failure modes of a bolted joint
Figure. Bearing Failure of bolt and plate
 Cont’d
• The failures noted above are prevented by taking the
following measures:
a) For failure modes 1 and 2, provide sufficient
bolts of suitable diameter
b) For mode 3, design tension members for the
effective area
c) For mode 4 provide sufficient end distance
 1.0 Design of Bolts
a) Shear capacity of a bolt
.
 .


,    
 
Where: As – shear area
γM – partial safety factor resistance for bolt connection
• When treads occur in the shear plane:
As = tensile stress area
• When treads do not occur in the shear plane:
As = shank area based on the nominal diameter
 Cont’d
b) Bearing Capacity
– Bearing Capacity of the bolt
.
 
 

,  

Where: d – is the nominal diameter of the bolt
t – is the thickness of the connected plate
– Bearing Capacity of the connected plate
.
 
   .
 
 

,   but   
   
 Cont’d
Where: fy - is the minimum yield strength
fu - is the minimum ultimate tensile strength
d - is the diameter of the bolt
t - is the thickness of the plate
e1 - is the edge distance
 Design of Bolts
c) Bolt subjected to tension
• Tension capacity of a bolt
.



,   but  1.0 
 

d) Combined shear and Tension

• When bolts subjected to both shear and tension
then in addition to the above the following
relationship shown on next slide shall be satisfied.
 Cont’d

,
,
#  1.4

,
,

• Where: Fv,sd - is the design shear force per bolt

Ft,sd - is the design tensile force per bolt , ,
Fv,Rd - is shear capacity per bolt
Ft,Rd - is the tension capacity per bolt
 2.0 Spacing requirement for
connected plates

• Minimum edge or end distance (e1 or e2): do is the

diameter of hole
– For a rolled machine flame cut, sawn or planned edge:
1.25 do
– For sheared or hand flame cut edge and any end: 1.4 do
 Cont’d
• Maximum edge or end distance (e1 or e2): t is
thickness of thinner connected plate
– e1 or e2 ≤ 40 mm + 4 t for corrosive influences
– e1 or e2 ≤ max (12 t, 150 mm) for other cases
• Minimum hole spacing:
– P1 = 2.5 do Should be increased if necessary to provide
adequate bearing resistance
• Maximum hole spacing:
– P1 = max( 14t, 200mm)
 3.0 Block shear failure
• These types of failure take place when a group of
fasteners hole are located closer to the edge of the
member, such as beams coupled with brackets.
• The mode of failure is a tension rupture occurred
along line of fastener holes on the tension face of the
bolt group followed by an overall yielding in shear
through the row of the fastener along the shear face
of the complete group.
 Cont’d
Design shear rupture resistance
• The design value of an effective resistance Veff,Rd for
rapture along a block shear failure path shall be
determined from,

0.6()
%&

,  ,&

γ+
 Cont’d
• Av,eff - is the effective shear area for block shear and is
given by,
,&

 t- # - # - . /0 

Where: L1 = 2.5 do but ≤ a1

L2 = 5.0 do but ≤ a2
n - is the number of fasteners on the block shear
failure path
t - is the thickness of the web or bracket
Lv, a1 and a2 are given on next slide
Figure. Net area – Block Shear
 4.0 Eccentric Connections
• The line of action of the forces in connected
members should in general pass through the
centroid of the fastener group.
• However, it is often impossible to arrange members
so that this condition is satisfied, and as a
consequence the fasteners are subjected to eccentric
forces.
• There are two principal types of eccentrically loaded
connections:
1. Bolt group in direct shear and torsion and
2. Bolt group in direct shear and tension
Figure. Eccentrically loaded connection
 4.1 Bolts in direct shear and
torsion
• In the connection shown previous slide the moment
is applied in the plane of the connection and the bolt
group rotates about its center of gravity.
• A linear variation of loading due to moment is
assumed, with the bolt farthest from the center of
gravity of the group carrying the greatest load.
• The direct shear is divided equally between bolts and
the side plates are assumed to be rigid.
 Cont’d
• Consider a group of bolts shown below where the
load P is applied at an eccentricity e.
 Cont’d

Figure. Bolt group in direct shear and torsion

• The load Fs due to direct shear is given by

1

 
/
Where: n – the number of bolts
 Cont’d
• The force FT due to the moment is given by,
345

2 
∑ 7 # ∑ 8
• Resolve the load FT horizontally and vertically to give,
38

29 
2 sin θ 
∑ 7 # ∑ 8
37

2> 
2 cos θ 
∑ 7 # ∑ 8
 Cont’d
• Total Vertical force

> 
 #
2>

9 
29
• Resultant maximum shear force

 
> #
9



 
 #
2>  #
29
 4.2 Bolts in direct shear
and tension
• In the bracket type connection shown on next slide
the bolts are in combined shear and tension.
• In this type of connection it is often assumed that
the bracket will rotate about the bottom row bolts.
• While this assumption is not necessary true, it is
adequate for design purpose.
• In this case the bolts will be subjected to combined
tension and shear force as shown on next slide.
Figure. Bolts in direct shear and tension
 Cont’d
• The moment of resistance of the bolt group is,
3  A
 8 #
 8 # ⋯ 
8 8
3  A
2 #
2 # ⋯
8C 8C

2 
3  A 8 # 8 # ⋯ 
8C

2
3  A D 8   1
8C
 Cont’d
• The maximum bolt tension is,
8C

2  1
A ∑ 8
Where: N - is the number of vertical columns of bolts
• The vertical shear per bolt,
1

2 
/
 Welded Connections
• Welding is the process of joining metal parts by
fusing them and filling in with molten metal from the
electrode.
• This method is used extensively to join parts and
members and to fabricate complete elements such
as plate girders.
• Welding provides neat, strong and more efficient
joints than are possible with bolting.
 Types of welds
• The four types of welds are the
– butt,
– fillet,
– slot, and
– plug welds
• Each type of weld has specific advantages that
determines the extent of its usage.
Figure. Basic Types of weld
 Cont’d
a) Butt welds
• The principal use of butt welds is to connect structural
members that are aligned in the same plane.
• Since butt welds are usually intended to transmit the
full load of the member they join, the weld should
have the same strength as the pieces joined, in which
case they are referred to as full penetration welds.
• There are many variations of but welds and each is
classified according to its particular shape.
• Each type of butt welds requires a specific edge
penetration and is named accordingly.
Figure. Types of butt weld
 Cont’d
b) Fillet welds
• For fillet weld the weld metal is located on the face
of the plates.
• Fillet welds owing to their overall economy, ease of
fabrication and adaptability are the most widely
used.
Figure. Types of fillet weld
 Cont’d
c) Slot and Plug welds
• Slot and plug welds may be used extensively in
connection as shown in figure (a) and (b),or may be used
in combination with fillet welds as shown figure (c) on
next slide.
• A principal use for plug or slot welds is to transmit shear
in a lap joint when the size of the connection limits the
length available for fillet or other edge welds.
• Slot and plug welds are also useful in preventing
overlapping parts from buckling.
Figure. Slot and Plug welds
 Design of fillet weld
• Two geometrical weld parameters for design:
a) throat thickness, a, is the minimum distance from
the root to the weld face ignoring the convex zone.
b) Weld length, l, is the longitudinal weld dimension in
the direction of the welding arc displacement.
 Cont’d
• Few terms are used while designing a fillet weld as
follows:
a) Minimum weld size
• Welds must be of some minimum sizes based on the
thickness of the base metal.
• Minimum sizes of fillet weld as shown in Table below
Thickness of base metal (mm) Minimum size of fillet weld(mm)
t≤6 3
6 < t ≤ 12.5 5
12.5 < t ≤ 19 6
t > 19 8
 Cont’d
b) Maximum weld size
• The maximum size of fillet welds along the edges of
connected part is:
– Along edges of material less than 6 mm, the
minimum size may be equal to the thickness of
the material.
– Along edges of material 6 mm or more in
thickness, the maximum size shall be 1.0 mm less
than the thickness of the material.
 Cont’d
c) Minimum length of fillet weld
• The minimum length of fillet weld should not be less
than 40 mm or 6a. a is throat thickness.
d) Details of fillet welds (refer EBCS 3, section 6.5.2.2)
e) Throat thickness
• Throat thickness is the shortest distance from the
root to the face of the weld as shown in Figure.
 Design Strength of fillet weld
• The design strength Fw,Rd of a fillet weld per unit length shall
be obtained from:

E,  (E, F
• Fvw,Rd is the design shear strength of the weld is determined
as,
. C
G . I


E,  but 
H H
Where: fye is the minimum tensile strength of the electrodes
fu is the specified minimum ultimate tensile strength of
the weaker part joined.
γMW the partial safety factor for the resistance of welds,
=1.25