Active Shear Planes of Bolted Connections Failing in Block Shear
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Volume 139, Issue 3
Abstract
In the steel design codes worldwide, the shear area for calculating the block shear capacity of a bolted connection is either the gross or the net shear area. The authors have previously noted independent experimental evidence indicating the shear failure planes to lie midway between the gross and the net shear planes, termed the active shear planes. This paper presents the nonlinear contact finite brick element analysis results that confirm the location of the active shear planes, indicated by regions of maximum shear stresses. The finite-element analysis also found that shear stresses approach zero toward the free downstream end of the connection block. The veracity of the active shear area is further demonstrated in terms of the ability of the resulting block shear equation to predict the governing failure modes of test specimens consistently, in comparison with the equations assuming the gross and the net shear areas.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank John Kralic, Manager (Lysaght Research and Technology, Bluescope Steel Limited), for supplying the G450 sheet steel materials used in the present work; Gregory Hancock, Emeritus Professor (University of Sydney), for expert input concerning the state of the art of bolted connection design in cold-formed sheet steel; and Chris Cook, Dean of Engineering, and Muhammad Hadi, Head of the Advanced Structural Engineering and Construction Materials Group (University of Wollongong), for supporting the laboratory tests that were conducted in the High Bay Laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering. The specimens were fabricated by Ritchie McLean.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 3 • March 2013
Pages: 320 - 327
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 14, 2011
Accepted: Mar 30, 2012
Published online: Apr 14, 2012
Published ahead of production: May 26, 2012
Published in print: Mar 1, 2013
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