Rational Analysis of Prying Action in Tension Bolted Connections

The purpose of the work presented in this paper is to modify the current design approach used to determine prying action in tension steel bolted connections. Most studies approach the analysis by assuming the location of the prying force resultant to be at the edge of the connecting member flange. We modified this design approach through a numerical analysis using a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) program, I-deas, to obtain the relationships between prying action and other factors. Depending on these relationships, we modified the current equations following the results of our investigation to obtain a "better" estimate of the connection strength for a given steel connection geometry.