3.

ANALYSIS OF TENSION MEMBERS

• Tension members are found in bridge and roof trusses, towers, and bracing systems, and in situations
where they are used as tie rods.

Truss chord X brace

Sag rod

Moment connection

• Today, although the use of cables is increasing for suspended-roof structures, tension members usually
consist of single angles, double angles, tees, channels, W sections, or sections built up from plates or
rolled shapes. Another type of tension section often used is the welded tension plate, or flat bar, which is
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very satisfactory for use in transmission towers, foot bridges, and similar structures.
• A few of the various types of tension members in general use are illustrated in Fig. 3.1. In this figure, the
dotted lines represent the intermittent tie plates or bars used to connect the shapes.

Fig. 3.1. Types of tension members

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3.1. Nominal Strength of Tension Members

• A ductile steel member without holes and subject to a tensile load can resist without fracture a load
larger than its gross cross-sectional area times its yield stress because of strain hardening. However, a
tension member loaded until strain hardening is reached will lengthen a great deal before fracture—a
fact that will, in all probability, end its usefulness and may even cause failure of the structural system
of which the member is a part.

• If, on the other hand, we have a tension member with bolt holes, it can possibly fail by fracture at the
net section through the holes. This failure load may very well be smaller than the load required to yield
the gross section, apart from the holes.
It is to be realized that the portion of the member where we have a reduced cross-sectional area due to
the presence of holes normally is very short compared with the total length of the member. Though the
strain-hardening situation is quickly reached at the net section portion of the member, yielding there
may not really be a limit state of significance, because the overall change in length of the member due
to yielding in this small part of the member length may be negligible.

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• As a result of the preceding information, ÇYHY (section 7.2) states that the design tensile strength
(LRFD) or allowable tensile strength (ASD) of a tension member is to be the smaller of the values
obtained by considering the limit state of yielding in gross section or rupture in net section. (Limit state of
block shear is also has to be considered. It will be explained in the next lecture)
• For the limit state of yielding in the gross section (which is intended to prevent excessive elongation of
the member),

• For tensile rupture in the net section, as where bolt or rivet holes are present,

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• In the preceding expressions, Fy and Fu refer to the yield and ultimate tensile stresses, respectively, Ag is
the gross area of the member, and Ae is the effective net area that can be assumed to resist tension at the
section through the holes. This area may be somewhat smaller than the actual net area, An because of
stress concentrations and other factors.

TABLE 13.8-Characteristic Hole Dimensions (mm)

Hole dimensions
Bolt
Standard Oversize Short-slot Long-slot
(diameter) (diameter) (width x length) (width x length)

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3.2 Net Areas
• The presence of a hole obviously increases the unit stress in a tension member. There will be some
concentration of stress along the edges of the hole. For ductile materials, a uniform stress distribution
assumption is reasonable when the material is loaded beyond its yield stress.
• The term “net cross-sectional area,” or simply, “net area,” refers to the gross cross-sectional area of a
member, minus any holes, notches, or other indentations.

Fig. 3.2. Stress distribution with holes present

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• The connections of tension members should be arranged so that no eccentricity is present. If this arrangement
is possible, the stress is assumed to be spread uniformly across the net section of a member.

• Should the connections have eccentricities, moments will be produced that will cause additional stresses in
the vicinity of the connection. Unfortunately, it is often quite difficult to arrange connections without
eccentricity.
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3.3 Effect of Staggered Holes
• Should there be more than one row of bolt holes in a member, it is often desirable to stagger them in order to
provide as large a net area as possible at any one section to resist the load. The holes are staggered, and
failure along section ABCD is possible unless the holes are a large distance apart (Fig.-3.3).

Fig. 3.3. Possible failure sections in plates

Determining the critical net area in Fig. 3.3(c): The strength of the member along section ABCD is
somewhere between the strength obtained by using a net area computed by subtracting one hole from the
transverse cross-sectional area and the value obtained by subtracting two holes from section ABCD.
• The ÇYHY (2018) offer a very simple method for computing the net area of a tension member along a
zigzag section (Eq.-5.3, in section 5.4.3 of ÇYHY),
de : effective hole diameter
t : thickness of the member
s : longitudinal spacing (or pitch) of any two holes,
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g : transverse spacing (or gage) of the same holes (Fig. 3.3c).
• There may be several paths, any one of which may be critical at a particular joint. Each possibility
should be considered, and the one giving the least value should be used as a net area An . (This
method is merely an approximation or simplification of the complex stress variations that occur in
members with staggered arrangements of bolts.)

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Example-3: For the two lines of bolt holes shown in figure, determine the pitch that will give a net area
DEFG equal to the one long ABC. The holes are punched for M20 bolts.

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Example-4:

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Angles:
• When holes are staggered on two legs of an angle, the gage length g for use in the s2/4g expression is
obtained by using a length between the centers of the holes measured along the centerline of the angle
thickness, i.e., the distance A-B in figure shown below. Thus, the gage distance g is

𝑡 𝑡
𝑔 = 𝑔𝑎 − + 𝑔𝑏 − = 𝑔𝑎 + 𝑔𝑏 − 𝑡
2 2

1
2
Example-5:

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REFERENCES

1) Structural Steel Design (Fifth Edition), Jack C. McCormac, Stephen F. Csernak

2) Steel Structures: Design and Behavior, Charles G. Salmon, John E. Johnson, Faris A. Malhas
3) Structural Steel Design, Abi Aghayere, Jason Vigil
4) Steel Structures: Behavior and LRFD, Sriramulu Vinnakota
5) Aydın R., Günaydın A., Çelik Yapılar-Tasarım Kuralları ve Uygulama Örnekleri,
Güncelleştirilmiş 3.Baskı, Birsen Yayınevi, 2017.

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