ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Experimental and Numerical Studies of Bolted Lap

Joints at Elevated Temperature
Batuhan Der1, František Wald1

Correspondence Abstract

Batuhan Der This paper presents an experimental and numerical studies of bolted double lap joints at ambient
Czech Technical University and elevated temperatures. Nine experiments conducted at the Czech Technical University in
in Prague Prague investigated the mechanical behavior of bolted lap joints at 20°, 400° and 600°C. The
Thákurova 7
design strengths of steel joints subjected to tensile forces are predicted using European
16629 Prague 6
Email: batuhan.der@fsv.cvut.cz standards for steel structures. The general finite element (FE) software ABAQUS/Standard 6.14
is employed for the numerical analysis. In this work, different numerical models are prepared to
investigate a modeling technique of the bolted joints The plates are modelled using solid and
shell elements and the bolt is represented by solid element and a combination of beam elements
coupled to surfaces. All the studied models consider the contact behavior. The numerical models
are validated using data from experimental tests. The analytical model serves for verification of
numerical models. The validation and verification approved the numerical models. Consequently,
the modeling techniques used in this research can give reasonable results to predict the
resistance bolted joints at elevated temperature and can be used to predict the resistance in
design level.

Keywords

Bolted joints, elevated temperature, validation, shell element, experiments, finite element
analysis

1 Introduction bearing. The design specifications [2], [3] propose equations to

Bolted joints are widely used in the steel constructions. The key
advantages of using bolted joints are due to its low cost, fast
assembling work and easy to disassemble. As a structural 1. Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic.
component, it is often considered the critical part of an assembly.
Joints are required to deal with severity of fire to prevent structural predict the bearing and shear resistance of lap joints. The main
failure. Research has shown that they are the most vulnerable part components of lap joints are bolts in shear and bolts/plates in
of a structure during a fire [1]. During fire, structural performance bearing as defined in EN 199-1-8 [4]. At elevated temperature,
of bolted steel joints is unpredictable due to significant reduction in strength and stiffness values of structural steel and bolts are
mechanical properties of plates and bolts. reduced. The temperature-dependent reduction factors are used to
predict the resistance of lap joints at elevated temperature. EN
The lap joint includes two plates attached by bolts and exposed to 1993-1-2 [2] proposes different reduction factors for structural
tensile force. In the case of double lap joints as studied in this paper, steel and bolts at elevated temperature.
two cover plates prevent the connecting plates under tensile load
from separating. Depending on the geometrical and material
properties of steel plates and bolts, there are four possible failure
types: net section, bearing, shear-out and bolt shear, as shown in
Figure 1. The difference between failure types of single (Figure 1)
and double lap joints is the number of shear plane. In this study, two
shear planes will occur due to the number of cover plates.
Figure 1 Failure types of bolted lap joints [5]
Connections are of great importance to the resistance of steel
structures. Resistance of bolted lap joints loaded by shear force in Experimental studies were performed for understanding the
plane of the plates is limited by failure of bolts in shear and in behaviour of bolts in shear and in bearing and elevated
temperatures. Kirby (1995) [6] performed double shear tests on instrumentation. When the temperature near the shear plane of the
M20 bolts to investigate shear strength of Grade 8.8 bolts at
elevated temperatures. The bolt shear strength drastically bolt reached to the targeted degree, loading was applied to the
decreased between 300°C and 700°C. Yu [7] investigate the bolt specimen while holding the target temperature constant. The tests
shear strength of A325 and A490 bolts from ambient temperature were terminated when failure occurred in the specimen.
to 800°C at 100°C increments. It was concluded that 300°C was
the key temperature for change of bolt shear capacity. Yang et al.
[8] investigated the failure of bolted connections under shear
loading and temperatures up to 650°C. Rex and Easterling [9]
performed an experimental study to investigate the behaviour of
single bolt at ambient temperature. Based on the test results, an
analytical model was proposed to predict load-deformation
behaviour of plate in bearing. This model provided an equation to
predict the resistance strength with a significant similarity to the
equation provided by AISC LRFD (1993 edition) [10]. Hirashima
[11] tested 16 specimens of bolted double-splice friction joints at
ambient temperature, 400°C, 500°C and 700°C to study bolt shear
and plate bearing behaviour at elevated temperatures.

In order to deal with the lack of accuracy in design specifications,

many authors have developed the finite element models to
determine the mechanical response of lap joints. Kim et al. [12]
conducted a comparison study between four bolt model types,
which are solid model, spider model, coupled model and the no bolt
model. Tanlak et al. [13] studied detailed and twelve simplified bolt
models under impact loading. The study highlighted a significant
computational time savings of 80% to 90% among the simplified
models.

This paper presents experimental and numerical studies to predict

the fire resistance of double lap joints. Accuracy of the numerical
analysis is checked by comparison with Eurocode design
assumptions and the results of a number of fire tests conducted.
The objective of this study is therefore to shows that the simplified
model may be used in the design assumptions at elevated
temperature.

2 Experimental Study Figure 2 Dimensions for test specimens

2.1 Specimens and test setup

The experimental program was performed to measure the

resistance of double lap joints at elevated temperature. The test
program included nine connections with two bolts, positioned
perpendicular to the loading direction. The connection geometries
are shown in Figure 2. The connections were designed as lap
connections with bolts loaded in double shear. The cover and
connected plated were fabricated from a single steel plate, grade
S355 (nominal material strengths 𝑓𝑦 = 355 𝑀𝑃𝑎, 𝑓𝑢 = 490 𝑀𝑃𝑎).
The nominal thickness of connecting and cover plates are 8 mm and
16 mm, respectively. The material properties for steel plates were
defined with elastic modulus (E) of 210 GPa, initial yield stress (𝜎0)
of 355 MPa and Poisson's ratio of 0.3. The tested bolt type was the
high-strength Grade 8.8 bolts.

In this study, the mechanical response of double bolted lap

connections at elevated temperatures were investigated
experimentally using the steady state test method. The specimens
were tested at 3 different nominal temperature (T) levels, namely,
at 20 °C (ambient temperature), 400 °C and 600 °C. A
displacement-controlled loading scheme was used to drive actuator
of the testing machine at a prescribed displacement rate of 0.65
mm/min. The specimens were tested in steady-state conditions at
ambient temperature, 400 and 600°C. Each of these tests used
Figure 3 Test setup for heating
high-temperature ceramic fiber blanket to heat the specimen, as
seen in Figure 3. Both testing series used the same test setup and
 0.5. EN 1993-1-8 [4] defines the bearing resistance per bolt as
follows:

𝑘1 𝑏 𝑓𝑢 𝑑𝑡
𝐹𝑏,𝑅𝑑 = (2)
𝑀2

where 𝑑 is the nominal bolt diameter, 𝑓𝑢 is nominal ultimate tensile

strength of the plate, 𝑡 is the thickness of connected material and
𝑀2 is the partial factor with the recommended value of 1.25.
Parameters 𝑏 and 𝑘1 are determined considering mainly
geometrical parameters as given below:

• perpendicular to the direction of load transfer for edge

Figure 4 Bolt shear failure at ambient (on left) and elevated temperature (on and inner bolts, respectively
right)

2.2 Test Results 𝑒2 𝑝2

𝑘1 = 𝑚𝑖𝑛 (2.8 − 1.7; 1.4 − 1.7; 2.5) (3)
𝑑0 𝑑0
All the specimens were designed to have bolt shear failure
mechanism with the design rules give in table 3.4 of EN 1993-1-8 𝑝2
[4]. 𝑘1 = 𝑚𝑖𝑛 (1.4 − 1.7; 2.5) (4)
𝑑0

Figure 4 indicated the failure type observed in all tests as predicted • in the direction of load transfer
in design level. It can be seen that the failure modes at elevated
temperatures are similar to those in 20 °C, i.e. connection failed due 𝑓𝑢𝑏
𝑏 = 𝑚𝑖𝑛 (𝑑 ; ; 1) (5)
to the bolt shear failure. The measured resistance values and 𝑓𝑢
degradation amount with higher temperature are shown in Table 1.
𝑒1
𝑑 = 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠 (6)
Table 1 Experimental results 3𝑑0

𝑝1
Specimens T [°C] Resistance [kN] Average Degradation 𝑑 = − 0.25 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠 (7)
Resistance of 3𝑑0
[kN] resistance
at 𝑻 where 𝑑0 is the diameter of the bolt hole, 𝑓𝑢𝑏 is the ultimate
strength of the bolt, 𝑓𝑢𝑝 is the ultimate strength of the plate, 𝑒1 is
Test 1 148.9 end distance, 𝑒2 is edge distance. For the design resistance of bolts
at elevated temperatures, the term 𝑓𝑢 should be replaced by 𝑘𝑏, 𝑓𝑢 /
Test 2 20 146.7 148.6 1.00 𝑀,𝑓𝑖 . In all cases, 𝑀,𝑓𝑖 is a national determined parameter with a
Test 3 150.1 recommended value 𝑀,𝑓𝑖 =1.0 (EN 1993-1-2 [2]).

Test 4 106.4 1
𝐹𝑣,𝑅𝑑, = 𝐹𝑣,𝑅𝑑 𝑘𝑏, (8)
𝑀,𝑓𝑖
Test 5 400 122.6 110.8 0.75
1
Test 6 103.4 𝐹𝑏,𝑅𝑑,𝜃 = 𝐹𝑏,𝑅𝑑 𝑘𝑏, (9)
𝑀,𝑓𝑖
Test 7 36.7
3.2 Reduction Factors
Test 8 600 33.9 32.7 0.22
In Annex D of EN 1993-1-2 [2], strength reduction factors of
Test 9 27.5 structural bolts at elevated temperatures up to 1000°C. It
recommends that the same reduction factors can be used for both
tension and shear loading of bolts. For structural steel, EN 1993-
1-2 [2] proposes different reduction factors for the modulus of
3 Analytical Model elasticity and yield strength.

3.1 Eurocode Specification

EN 1993-1-8 [4] provides design equations for calculating the shear

resistance of a bolt per shear plane as follows:

𝑣 𝑓𝑢𝑏 𝐴
𝐹𝑣,𝑅𝑑 = (1)
𝑀2

where 𝑓𝑢𝑏 is the ultimate bolt material strengths, 𝐴 is the nominal

unthreaded or threaded body areas of the bolt and 𝛼𝑣 is a
coefficient dependent on bolt class — for classes 4.6, 5.6 and 8.8 it
is equal to 0.6 and for classes 4.8, 5.8, 6.8 and 10.9 it is equal to
3.3 Results 900

Table 2 gives the calculated resistance using equation proposed by 800

EN 1993-1-2 [2]. As seen in Figure 4, the Eurocode predicts the 700
bolt shear failure.
600
Table 2 Lap connection resistance for one bolt

Stress (MPa)
500

Temperature Shear resistance Bearing Plate resistance 400

[kN] resistance [kN] 300 20
[kN]
200 400
20 121 163 350 600
100
400 93 163 350 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15
600 27 76 164 Strain

Figure 5 Material model for bolt

4 Numerical Study 4.3 Numerical Simulation

Numerical models were performed by using the finite element
analysis software ABAQUS [14]. The geometry of a model was
defined by parts, positioned relative to one another in an assembly.
Solid and simplified models were created to predict the resistance
of bolted double lap joints at ambient and elevated temperature.
4.1 Development of Finite Element Models
The parts (inner plates, cover plates and bolts) were modelled as
deformable bodies and were meshed by linear eight-noded
reduced-integration brick finite elements with hourglass control
(C3D8R) as shown in Figure 6. To shorten computational time,
several simplifications were introduced to model the connection
assembly. For the sake of simplicity, washers and threaded regions
were not considered.

The general contact formulation used in ABAQUS involves a

"master-slave" type algorithm [14] to define contacts between all
components that were expected to interact with each other.
Contact interactions were prescribed between the parts. To
simulate the contact between pairs, the contact interaction with
normal behaviour was assumed to be “Hard Contact” and tangential
behaviour with friction coefficient of 0.3 was adopted in the model
[15]]. No preloading was applied to the bolts in the numerical
modelling since bolts of each connection specimen were assembled
only to the snug-tight condition. The geometrical non-linearities
due to large displacements are considered into the FE analysis. The
non-linear geometry parameter (*NLGEOM = ON) was set to deal
with the large displacement analysis in ABAQUS step module [14].

4.2 Material modelling Figure 6 Solid model for numerical simulation

The bilinear material model was used to simulate the bolt
behaviour, as indicated in Figure 5. The yield and ultimate stress for
Grade 8.8 bolts were considered as 640 MPa and 800 MPa
respectively and the ultimate bolt strain considered was 0,12.
Reduction factors for carbon steel at elevated temperatures were
adopted from Eurocode and for the nominal yield strength and
For the numerical solution of the non-linear problem the Newton–
Raphson incremental iterative procedure has been used. The
results of the solid model were in close agreement with the
experimental data as shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Lap joint resistance from solid model

elastic modulus of Grade 8.8. For structural steel, the stress-strain

Temperature Resistance [kN] Failure Degradation of
relationship of steel proposed by EN 1993-1-2 [2] was used. The
[°C] Type resistance at 𝑻
steel plasticity is modelled using ‘von Mises’ yield criteria with
isotropic strain hardening. The Poisson’s ratio was equal to 0.3. 20 146.15 Bolt in 1.00
shear

400 114.04 Bolt in 0.78

shear

600 33.37 Bolt in 0.23

shear
4.4 Numerical Design Calculations
FE analysis provides a relatively inexpensive and time efficient
alternative compared with physical experiments. The several
methods can be used for finite element modelling of bolted steel
joints. Use of detailed solid models is not practicable due to the high
computational time. Therefore, the simplified models are required
to predict the mechanical behavior of bolted joints at different
temperatures. However, the accuracy of the bolt models should be
validated and verified. In this paper, coupled and spring models are
prepared in order to investigate a modeling technique of the bolted
lap joints. Static Riks method was chosen as the solver type to
calculate the resistance of bolted lap joints.
4.4.1 Coupled Model
The bolt shank of a bolt is approximately modelled by a beam
element B31. The beam element includes shear effect. The plates
were modelled using shell element S4R. The plates are connected
to the bolt shank using MPC Link and the nodes corresponding to
the head and the nut are connected to the bolt shank by means of
the kinematic couplings. Figure 7 indicates the illustration of the
coupled model created in ABAQUS.
Figure 7 The coupled model
4.4.2 Spring Model
In the spring model, the bolt shank was modelled using the non-
linear springs instead the beam element. The initial stiffness and the
design resistance of the bolt are modelled according to EN 1993-
1-8. The force-deformation curve [16] for the bolt in shear was
used to simulate the bolt behaviour.
In order to analyse the applicability of the simplified models in
design level of bolted lap joints, the results obtained from the
coupled and spring models were compared with the analytical
result. Table 4 shows the resistance values from the simplified
models and comparison with analytical result in parenthesis.
Figure 8 Deformation state and equivalent stress state of the bolts at failure
load for solid and simplified models
Table 4 Comprasion of simplified models with analytical model
Temperature [°C] Analytical Coupled Spring
Model Model
20 121 121.45 (1.00) 111.8 (0.92)
400 93 91.09 (0.98) 73.2 (0.79)
600 27 25.5 (0.94) 20.7 (0.77)
4.5 Failure Modes
As the connection is designed based on the code specifications, the
bolt shear failure observed during each temperature test. Figure 8
indicates the equivalent stress distribution in the plate and its
deformation state at its maximum load for the solid model and the
simplified models, respectively. The stress concentrations occurred
in the contact zone between plates and bolts. As it can be seen in
Figure 8, bolt shear failure obtained and numerical models was able
to accurately predict the failure mode.
5 Conclusion
The paper focuses on the prediction of lap joint resistance at
ambient and elevated temperature. The Eurocode 3 predicted the
shear failure for specimens at each temperature as observations
from the tests pointed to bolt shear failure. At 400 and 600 °C, the
shear strengths of bolted lap joint were about 75 and 22% of the
original strength, respectively.
A comparative analysis was carried out on the basis of resistance of
the bolted lap joints. Figure 9 indicates the resistance ratio between
the test results and different model results. At each temperature,
the solid model gave the most accurate result compared to test
results. Analytical model gives approximately 83% of the
experiment resistance for each temperature. The coupled model
indicates the same trend as the analytical model comparing to
experimental results at 20 and 400°C. However, the resistance
from the couple model decreases to 78% of test result at 600°C.
The spring model is more conservative than the coupled model and
the strength reduction reaches to 37% at 600°C compared to the
test result.
At ambient temperature, the coupled and the spring model showed
very good agreement with analytical model. For higher
temperatures, the accuracy of the spring model reduced from 94%
to 79%. However, the results from the spring model remained at
safe side in terms of design resistance, The results showed that the
difference between the analytical model and the coupled model is
mostly up to 6%.
 Resistance / Experiment Experiment Solid Model Safety Journal, Bd. 42, pp. 408-415, 2007.
Copled Model Analytical Model
1.2 Spring Model [6] B. R. Kirby, „The Behaviour of High-strength Grade 8.8 Bolts
1 0.98 1 1.03 1 1.02 in Fire,“ Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Bd. 33, pp. 3-
1 0.81 0.84
0.82 0.83 38, 1995.
0.82 0.78
0.75
0.8
0.66 0.63 [7] L. Yu, „Behavior of bolted connections during and after a fire,“
0.6 University of Texas at Austin, USA, 2006.

0.4 [8] K. H. R.-J. a. C. Y.-J. Yang, „Shear strength of high-strength

bolts at elevated temperature,“ Construction and Building
0.2
Materials, Bd. 31, Nr. 3, pp. 3656-3660, 2011.
0
20 400 600 [9] C. O. Rex und W. S. Easterling, „Behavior and Modeling of a
Temperature [°C] Bolt Bearing on a Single Plate,“ JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL
ENGINEERING, Bd. 129, Nr. 6, pp. 792-800, 2003.
Figure 9 Comparison of resistance values
[10] LRFD, „Load and Resistance Factor Design Specification for
Acknowledgement
Structural Steel Buildings,“ American Institute of Steel
Construction, Chicago, 1993.
This research is supported by the grant SGS22/144/OHK1/3T/11.

[11] T. Hirashima, Y. Esaki und S. Ando, „Load-Deformation

Behavior of Bolted Double-Splice Friction Joints at Elevated
Temperature,“ in Proceedings of 8th International Conference
on Structures in Fire, Shanghai, 2014.

[12] J. Kim, J. C. Yoon und B. S. Kang, „Finite element analysis and

References
[1] I. Burgess, J. B. Davison, G. Dong und H. S.-S., „The role of
connections in the response of steel frames to fire,“ Structural
Engineering, Bd. 22, Nr. 4, pp. 449-461, 2012.
[2] EN-1993-1-2, „Eurocode 3: Design of Steel Structures, Part
1.2, General Rules, Structural Fire Design,“ European
Committee for Standardization, Brussels, 2005.
[3] AISC, „AISC 360-16: Specification for Structural Steel
Building,“ American Institute of Steel Construction, Chicago,
2016.
[4] EN-1993-1-8, „Eurocode 3 Design of Steel Structures - Part
1.8: Design of Joints,“ CEN, Brussels, 2005.
modeling of structure with bolted joints,“ Applied
Mathematical Modelling, Bd. 31, p. 895–911, 2007.
[13] N. Tanlak, F. O. Sonmez und E. Talay, „Detailed and simplified
models of bolted joints under impact loading,“ The Journal of
Strain Analysis and Engineering Design, Bd. 46, Nr. 3, pp. 213-
225, 2011.
[14] ABAQUS, „Analysis User’s Manual, Version 6.14,“ Dassault
Systems Simulia Corp, USA, 2000.
[15] D. D. Vasarhelyi und C. Chiang, „Coefficient of friction in
joints of various steels,“ Journal of Structural Division, Bd. 93,
Nr. 4, p. 227*243, 1967.
[16] F. Wald, L. Šabatka und M. Bajer, Component-based finite
element design of steel connections, Prague: the Czech
Technical University, 2021.

[5] M. Sarraj, I. W. Burgess, J. B. Davison und R. J. Plank, „Finite

element modelling of steel fin plate connections in fire,“ Fire