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CE 302:
Ch. 5: Bolted Connections
Svetha Venkatachari, Ph.D.
Dept. of Civil Engineering
NIT Puducherry

Introduction
• Connections –
• Flow of forces/moments from one member to another
• transfer of forces to the foundation
• Extending the length of the member
• Joining different parts of the structure during erection
• A structure is only as strong as its weakest link – the
design of connections is critical
• Connection failure is to be avoided –
• Can lead to the collapse of the whole structure.
• Connection failure is not ductile.
• To achieve an economical design, the connectors must develop
full (or a little extra) strength than the members.

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Types of Connections
1. Methods of fastening – rivets, bolts, and welds
▪ Bolts – bearing and friction type

2. Connection rigidity – simple, rigid, or semi-rigid

3. Joint resistance – bearing connections and friction
connections
Rivets
4. Fabrication location – shop or field fabricated
5. Joint location – beam-to-column, beam-to-beam, and
column-to-footing
6. Connection geometry – single web angle, single
plate, double web angle, top and seat angles, end
plate, header plate, etc.
7. Type of force transferred – shear connections,
moment connections, tension or compression, and
tension or compression with shear.
Ordinary bolts Welded girder
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Rigid Connections
Rigid connections develop the full moment capacity of the connecting members and retain the
original angle between the members under joint rotation

Eccentric bolted Bolted bracket Eccentric welded Flush end plate Extended end Column splice
bracket bracket plate

Beam splice Column base Moment connection in

a portal frame 4
plate

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Simple Connections Reality: All connections are semi-rigid. Some amount

of moment capacity exists.

Simple connections – no moment transfer is assumed between the connected parts and hence, as
hinged. Large rotational movement is present in these connections. Eccentricity less than 60 mm is
neglected.

Tie rod
Beam-to-column Beam-to-column Beam-to-beam

Beam-to-column Beam-to-column Beam-to-beam Column-to-footing 5

Bolted Connections
Types of bolts:
1) Black bolts (IS 1367) – least expensive, light structures, static loading, sometimes as temporary bolts during
erection. Turned bolts – similar to black bolts; shanks are made from a hexagonal rod; small tolerance – 0.15 to
0.5 mm; used when no slip is permitted – special jobs; Grades 4.6 to 8.8 is used.
2) High-strength friction grip bolts (IS 3757) – An initial tension is induced which causes sufficient friction to
eliminate the slip in the joint under service loads. The induced tension is called the proof load and the friction
coefficient is called the slip factor. Class 8.8 and 10.9 bolts are commonly used.
Grade of bolts:
As per the international standards organization, the bolts grade is x.y. x is 1/100th of the ultimate strength of the bolt
in N/mm2 and y is the yield-to-ultimate stress ratio.
For e.g., grade 4.6 bolts have an ultimate tensile strength of 400 N/mm2 and yield strength of 240 N/mm2.
Bolts of sizes 5 – 36 mm diameter are available and are designated as M5 to M36.
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Bolt Tightening Methods

Snug-tight: Defined as the tightness that exists when all the plies in a joint are in firm contact.
Black bolts are tightened to the ‘snug-tight’ condition.
Tightening methods for HSFG bolts (IS 4000):
1) Turn-of-the-nut tightening – Bolts are first made snug-tight and then the nut is turned by a specific
amount (half or three-fourth turns) to induce tension equal to the proof load.
2) Calibrated wrench tightening – The bolts are tightened using a wrench calibrated to produce the
required tension.
3) Direct tension indicator method – Special washers with protrusions are used. As the bolts is
tightened, these protrusions are compressed and the gap produced by them gets reduced in
proportion to the load. The gap is measured by a feeler gauge, having steel plates of varying
thickness, which can be inserted into the gap.
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Bolt Tightening Methods

High-strength bolted connection (b)

(c) 8

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Possible Failure Modes of Bolted Joints

• Shear failure of bolts/plate

• Bearing failure of bolts/plate

• Tensile failure of bolts

• Bending failure of bolts

• Tensile failure of plate

Specification for Bolted Joints

• Bolt diameter – Few large-diameter bolts cost less. Larger diameter bolts are favorable in connection
where shear governs because the bolt capacity in shear varies as the square of the bolt dia.
• Bolt holes (Table 19) –
• Usually drilled. Sometimes punched holes are used.
• Bolt holes are made larger than the bolt diameter to facilitate erection and allow for inaccuracies in fabrication.

• Spacing of bolts –
• Pitch (p) – C/C distance between two consecutive bolts measured along the direction of load. If the bolts are placed in a zig-
zag pattern, then the pitch is referred to as a staggered pitch.
• Min. pitch: 2.5 times the nominal diameter (Clause 10.2.2)
• Max. pitch (Clause 10.2.3) – to reduce the length of the connection, to have uniform stress in bolts, avoid failure of plates in
built-up tension/compression members.
• Gauge (g) – C/C distance between adjacent bolt lines or the distance between the back of a rolled section and the first bolt
line, or the c/c distance between two consecutive bolts along the width of the member (refer to IS Handbook)

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Specification for Bolted Joints

• Edge and end distances –
• Edge distance – Distance at a right angle to the direction of load/stress from the center of the bolt hole to the
adjacent edge of the member
• End distance – Distance in the direction of load/stress from the center of the bolt hole to the end of the member
• Min. distances are specified to avoid the failure of the plate in tension.
• Max. distances are specified to avoid moisture getting between the parts.
• Edge and end distances are specified in Clause 10.2.4.

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Shear Connections with Bearing Type Bolts

Force transfer of bearing type bolts:
• The tension in one plate is equilibrated by the bearing stress between the bolt and the hole in the
plate.
• The bearing stress is mobilized only after the plates slip relative to one another and start bearing
on the bolt.
• Section x-x in the bolt is the critical section for shear.

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Shear Strength of Bolts

• The bolt shank shear along the plane of slip, i.e., the interface.
• The no. of planes along which the bolts can be sheared indicates the number of shears. For e.g.,
single shear, double shear,…
• The nominal capacity of the bolt in shear (Vnsb) is given by

Anb – net shear area of the bolt at the threads ≃ 78% of gross area (IS 1367)
Asb – nominal shank area
fub – ultimate tensile stress of the bolt
nn – no. of shear planes with threads intercepting the shear plane
ns – no. of shear planes without threads intercepting the shear plane

• The design strength of the bolt in shear,

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Shear Strength of Bolts

• For long joints, long grip length, and with packing plates, the shear capacity will be lesser and is
given by

• Reduction factor for long joints (when lj > 15d) –

lj is the length of the joint measured from the first to the last row of bolts in the direction of load; d is the nominal bolt dia.

• Reduction factor for large grip lengths (when lg > 5d) –

(total thickness of the connected plates)

• Reduction factor for packing plates (when tpkg > 6mm) –

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Bearing Strength of Bolts

• The bearing limit state relates to the deformation around a bolt hole. A shear tear-out failure may
also occur when the end distance is small.
• The nominal bearing strength of the bolt (Vnpb) is given by

The design strength of the

bolt in bearing is given by

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Efficiency of a Joint
• Holes are drilled in plates to make a connection with bolts, hence the original strength of the full
plate section is reduced.
• The joint that causes the minimum reduction in strength is more efficient.
• Efficiency of the joint is defined as the ratio of the actual strength of the connection to the gross
strength of the connected members.

𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = × 100
𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

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Example 5.1
Design a lap joint between two plates as shown in the figure so as to
transmit a factored load of 70 kN using M16 bolts of grade 4.6 and Fe
410 grade plates. Assume the width of the plates as 80 mm.

12 mm

20 mm

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Example 5.2
Two plates 10 mm and 18 mm thick are to be jointed by a double-cover
butt joint. Assuming cover plates of 8 mm thickness, design the joint to
resist a factored load of 500 kN. Assume Fe 410 grade steel plate and
grade 4.6 bolt.

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Shear Connections with HSFG Bolts

Force transfer of slip-critical connections:
• At service loads, these bolts do not slip and the joint is called a slip-resistant connection.
• At ultimate loads, the bolts slip and the joints behave like bearing-type connections.
• The connections must have sufficient shear and bearing strength in the event of an overload that
may cause a slip to occur.

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Slip Resistance of HSFG Bolts

• The frictional resistance to slip between the plate surfaces subjected to clamping force opposes
the slip due to externally applied shear.
• The nominal slip resistance or nominal shear capacity of the bolt (Vnsf) is given by

• The design shear strength is given by

(Table 20)

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Slip Factor

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Modified Slip Resistance for Long Joints

• For long joints (when lj > 15d) the nominal shear capacity (Vnsf) of the bolt is reduced by
multiplying it with βlj.

• d = nominal shank diameter of the bolt

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Bearing Resistance
• As the parallel shank friction grip bolts slip into bearing at the ultimate limit state when subjected
to shear forces, the bearing stresses between the bolt and the plate need to be checked.

• The bearing strength of the HSFG bolts will be greater than that of the plate; hence, bearing
strength of the bolt need not be checked.

• The factored shear force (Vsf) should satisfy 𝑉𝑠𝑓 ≤ 𝑉𝑛𝑝𝑏 /𝛾𝑚𝑏

• 𝑉𝑛𝑝𝑏 can be determined as that of bearing-type bolts

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Example 5.3
The connection shown in the figure uses 20 mm diameter 10.9S grade
bolts with threads in the shear plane to connect an ISF 150 x 12 mm
with a gusset plate. Determine the strength of the joint if
a) Slip is not permitted
b) Slip is permitted
Block shear strength need not be checked.

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