Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Unconfined Bolted Connections in Cold-Formed Steel Members
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 5
Abstract
The commentary to the North American cold-formed steel specification recommends physical testing to determine the performance of a bolted connection where the plies are not in contact with each other. This paper presents the laboratory test results of 120 such specimens with sheet thicknesses ranging from 0.55 to 3.0 mm, bolted with 10-, 12-, or bolts. Finite-element analyses support the experimental finding that the bearing failure of an unconfined bolted connection is not associated with shear fracture but with crimpling of the critical ply. The bearing capacity varies with the square root of the bolt diameter and nonlinearly with the sheet thickness. Dimensionally consistent and continuous design equations are derived and verified against the results of the laboratory tests and finite-element analyses, the latter supplementing the former with configurations involving bolts. The derived relationships between the bearing capacity and the sheet thickness and bolt diameter are also verified against 18 independent test results involving bolted connections through square hollow sections. The presented equation is significantly simpler but more accurate than those proposed in the literature for such connections. A resistance factor of 0.70 is recommended for use with the proposed design equations for determining the bearing capacities of unconfined bolted connections.
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Data Availability Statement
The laboratory test data used in the present study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Australian Research Council for funding this research through the ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Manufacturing under the Industrial Transformation Research Hubs scheme (Project ID IH130100017). The steel materials used in the present laboratory tests were supplied by Trevor Clayton of BlueScope Steel. All specimens were fabricated by Ritchie McLean. The authors would also like to thank the Sustainable Building Research Centre at the Innovation Campus of the University of Wollongong for the use of its facilities.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 5 • May 2021
Copyright
Crown Copyright © 2021 Published by American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 7, 2020
Accepted: Dec 29, 2020
Published online: Feb 24, 2021
Published in print: May 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jul 24, 2021
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