BOLTS SUBJECTED TO SHEAR AND TENSION (BEARING-TYPE CONNECTIONS)

• The bolts used for a large number of structural steel connections are subjected to a combination of shear
and tension. One quite obvious case is shown in figure shown below, where a diagonal brace is attached to
a column. The vertical component of force in the figure, V, is trying to shear the bolts off at the face of the
column, while the horizontal component of force, H, is trying to fracture them in tension.

Figure-Combined shear and tension connection.

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• Tests on bearing-type bolts subject to combined shear and tension show that their strengths can be
represented with an elliptical interaction curve, as shown in figure below. The three straight dashed
lines shown in the figure can be used quite accurately to represent the elliptical curve. In this figure, the
horizontal dashed line represents the design tensile stress of LRFD Fnt or the allowable tensile stress
of ASD Fnt/ if no shear forces is applied to the bolts. The vertical dashed line represents the design
shear stress of LRFD Fnv or the allowable shear stress of the ASD Fnv/ if no tensile forces are applied
to the bolts.

• The sloped straight line in the figure is represented by

the expression for Fnt the nominal tensile stress
modified to include the effects of shearing force.

Figure-Bolts in a bearing-type connection

subject to combined shear and tension. 2
• According to ÇYHY the nominal tensile strength of a bolt subjected to combined shear and tension
loading will be determined by the following equation,

𝑅𝑛 = 𝐹𝑛𝑡 𝐴𝑏 (Eq.-13.11 in ÇYHY)

For LRFD   =0,75

For ASD   =2,00

Fnt represents the reduced nominal tensile stress strength and it will be determined by the
equations shown below:

For LRFD :

For ASD :

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Fnt : the nominal tensile stress strength of the bolt from Table 13-7 in ÇYHY.

Fnv : the nominal shear stress strength of the bolt from Table 13-7 in ÇYHY.

frv : the largest shear stress occuring in the characteristic cross section of the shank of the bolt
subjected to combined loading.

According to ÇYHY-13.3.10, the value of the frv shall be equal or less than the value of Fnv (LRFD)
or Fnv/ (ASD).

• If the stress occurring due to external loads, in either shear or tension, is equal to or less than 30
percent of the corresponding available stress strength, it is not necessary to investigate the effect of
combined stress.

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Example 7:
The bearing type connection detailed below is subjected to the oblique centric loads of PG = 200kN, and
PQ = 480 kN. Bolt holes are standard sized, and the threads are included in the shear plane. (It will be
assumed that no additional lift force is created in parallel to the direction of the bolts due to the
deformation of the plate joined to the flange of column (HE 280 B)).
a) Check the LRFD design strength of the bolt group
b) Check the ASD allowable strength of the bolt group

Material
(Table-2.1A, ÇYHY)

Thicknesses of the connected members

Section A-A Bolts

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Solution :
• Due to oblique and centric tensile loading the bolts are subjected to a combination of shear and tension.

LRFD ASD
Required tensile force strength

Horizontal (H) and vertical (V) components of the required tensile force

• Nominal shear force strength of one bolt, Rnv (ÇYHY-13.3.9)

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 LRFD ASD
Horizontal (H1) and vertical (V1) components of the force acting to one bolt

Design shear strength of one bolt Allowable shear strength of one

(ÇYHY-13.3.9) bolt (ÇYHY-13.3.9)

Interaction of tensile and shear forces

Since Since

According to ÇYHY-13.3.10, the interaction of tensile and shear forces should

be considered

According to ÇYHY-13.3.10

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 LRFD ASD
Nominal tensile strength of the bolt group, Rn

a) Checking the LRFD design strength of b) Checking the ASD allowable strength of
the bolt group the bolt group

• The checking of the bearing strength of the connected members should be done by considering
only the shear force (vertical component) as explained in Example-1.

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BOLTS SUBJECTED TO SHEAR AND TENSION (SLIP-CRITICAL CONNECTIONS)

• When an axial tension force is applied to a slip-critical connection, the clamping force will be
reduced, and the design shear strength must be decreased in some proportion to the loss in clamping
or prestress. This is accomplished by multiplying the available slip resistance of the bolts obtained
due to Section-13.3.11 in ÇYHY by a factor ksc ,

For LRFD ⟹

(Eq-13.13, in ÇYHY)

For ASD ⟹

Here, the factors are defined as follows:

Tu : The tension force due to the LRFD load combination Tb : Minimum fastener tension, as given in
Table-13.6 (ÇYHY)
Du : A multiplier previously defined.
nb : The number of bolts carrying the applied tension
Ta : The tension force due to the ASD load combination
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Example 8:
The slip-critical connection detailed below is subjected to the oblique centric loads of PG = 200kN, and PQ = 450
kN. Bolt holes are standard sized, and the threads are excluded from the shear plane. Filler won’t be used and
faying surface is class B. (It will be assumed that no additional lift force is created in parallel to the direction of
the bolts due to the deformation of the plate joined to the flange of column (HE 280 B)).
a) Determine the nominal shear strength of the connection
b) Check the LRFD design shear strength of the connection
c) Check the ASD allowable shear strength of the connection
PG = 200kN
PQ = 450kN

Material
(Table-2.1A, ÇYHY)
Thicknesses of the connected members

Section A-A Bolts

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Solution :
• Coefficient of friction for the faying surface of class B, (Table-13.11, ÇYHY)

• Minimum pretension force, (Table-13.6, ÇYHY)

• Due to oblique and centric tensile loading the bolts are subjected to a combination of shear and tension.

LRFD ASD
Required tensile force strength

Horizontal (H) and vertical (V) components of the required tensile force

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• Nominal shear force strength of one bolt, Rnv (ÇYHY-13.3.11)

(Without filler, ÇYHY-13.3.11a)

LRFD ASD
a) Determining the nominal shearing strength of the connection

(98.8)(0.663)(10)

b) Checking the LRFD design shear strength of c) Checking the ASD allowable shear strength
the connection (ÇYHY-13.3.11) of the connection (ÇYHY-13.3.11) • According to ÇYHY-13.3.13, the limit
state of the fracturing of the bolt due to
shear and the limit state of the bearing
around the bolt hole should be
considered as shown in Example-1.

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ECCENTRICALLY LOADED BOLTED CONNECTIONS

• Eccentrically loaded bolt groups are subjected to shears and bending moments. For instance, in a
truss it is desirable to have the center of gravity of a member lined up exactly with the center of
gravity of the bolts at its end connections. This feat is not quite as easy to accomplish as it may
seem, and connections are often subjected to moments.

• With reference to figure shown below, when bolts are loaded such that the load is eccentric to the
bolt group in the plane of the faying surface, there are two analytical approaches that can be taken:
(1) the instantaneous center (IC), of rotation method and (2) the elastic method.

Figure-Eccentrically loaded
bolt group. 13
• In both cases, the connection is designed to resist the applied shear, P, and the additional shear
generated from the moment due to the applied shear acting at an eccentricity, Pe. Both methods are
relatively complex and are generally not used in practice without the aid of computers. The IC
method is more accurate, but requires an iterative solution. The elastic method is less accurate and
more conservative in that the ductility of the bolt group and redundancy (i.e., load distribution) are
both ignored.

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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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