• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.621-634
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• 2018

Flush end-plate (FEP) beam-to-column joints are commonly used for gravity load resisting parts in steel multi-storey buildings. However, in seismic resisting structures FEP joints should also provide rotation capacity consistent with the global structural displacements. The current version of EN1993-1-8 recommends a criterion aiming at controlling the thickness of the end-plate in order to avoid brittle failure of the connection, which has been developed for monotonic loading conditions assuming elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour of the connection's components in line with the theory of the component method. Hence, contrary to the design philosophy of the hierarchy of resistances implemented in EN1998-1, the over strength and the hardening of the plastic components are not directly accounted for. In light of these considerations, this paper describes and discusses the results obtained from parametric finite element simulations aiming at investigating the moment-rotation response of FEP joints under cyclic actions. The influence of bolt diameter, thickness of end-plate, number of bolt rows and shape of beam profile on the joint response is discussed and design requirements are proposed to enhance the ductility of the joints.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1185-1201
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• 2015

The aim of this experimental research is to investigate the conformity of the four-bolt unstiffened moment end-plate connections consisting of European steel sections which do not meet the limitations specified for beam flange width and overall beam depth in ANSI/AISC 358-10 to the requirements of seismic application. However, the connections are satisfactory with the limitations required by Turkish Earthquake Code. For this purpose, four test specimens were designed and cyclic load was applied to three specimens while one was tested under monotonic loading to provide data for the calibration of the analytical models. The moment-rotation hysteresis loops and the failure modes for all test specimens are presented. A full three-dimensional finite element model is also developed for each test specimen for use to predict their behavior and to provide a tool for generating subsequent extensive parametric studies. The test results show that all specimens performed well in terms of rotation capacity and strength. Finite element models are found to be capable of approximating the cyclic behavior of the extended end-plate connection specimens.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 1994

In this study, the finite element analysis using joint elements, bolt elements, and shell elements is presented to investigate the behavior of bolted connections. The contact of plates and the high-strength, pretensioned bolts are simply idealized by joint elements and bolt elements, respectively. The initial stiffness is determined through the presented method and the non-linear analysis is archived by a constant-arc-length method based on Newton-Raphson method. The analysis results of a semi-rigid connection(web & flange angles) and a moment connection (shear & moment plates) demonstrate the exactness and applicability of the presented method. And the results indicates that the consideration of slip and 3-dimensional deformation is needed for an accurate prediction of bolted connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.357-373
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• 2019

Steel storage racks are slender structures whose overall behavior and the capacity depend largely on the flexural behavior of the base-plate to upright connections and on the behavior of beam-to-column connections. The base-plate upright connection assembly details, anchor bolt position in particular, associated with the high-rise steel storage racks differ from those of normal height steel storage racks. Since flexural behavior of high-rise rack base connection is hitherto unavailable, this investigation experimentally establishes the flexural behavior of base-plate upright connections of high-rise steel storage racks. This investigation used an enhanced test setup and considered nine groups of three identical tests to investigate the influence of factors such as axial load, base plate thickness, anchor bolt size, bracket length, and upright thickness. The test observations show that the base-plate assembly may significantly influence the overall behavior of such connections. A rigid plate analytical model and an elastic plate analytical model for the overall rotations stiffness of base-plate upright connections with concentric anchor bolts were constructed, and were found to give better predictions of the initial stiffness of such connections. Analytical model based parametric studies highlight and quantify the interplay of components and provide a means for efficient maximization of overall rotational stiffness of concentrically anchor bolted high-rise rack base-plate upright connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.47-67
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• 2014

Due to thermal expansion, the structural behaviour of beams in steel structures subjected to temperature increase will be affected. This may result in the failure of the structural members or connection due to extra internal force in the beam induced by the thermal increase. A method to release some of the thermally generated internal force in the members is to allow for some movements at the end supports of the member. This can be achieved by making the plane of the end-plate of the connection slanted instead of vertical as in conventional design. The present paper discusses the mechanical behaviour of beams with bolted slant end-plate connection under symmetrical gravity loads, subjected to temperature increase. Analyses have been carried out to investigate the reduction in internal force with various angles of slanting, friction factor at the surface of the connection, and allowable temperature increase in the beam. The main conclusion is that higher thermal increase is tolerable when slanting connection is used, which means the risk of failure of structures can be reduced.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2018

The safety evaluation of horizontal and vertical bolted connection between PHC piles is presented. The numerical analysis model is constructed using the commercial finite element program, ABAQUS, in which 3D solid element is used to model all the connection devices. The actual bolted connection is idealized by the contact and tie condition given in ABAQUS. Through the finite element analysis, the compression, tensile, bending and shear behaviors of PHC pile connection were analyzed. The safety factor based on Von-Mises and yield stress was calculated for the safety evaluation of each connection devices.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2022

This paper presents a study on the behavior of a bolted T-stub to square tube connection using Thread-fixed One-side Bolts (TOBs) through tests and numerical simulations. It outlines a research work of four connections with focus on the failure modes and strengths of the connection under tensile load. It was observed that the thread anchor failure caused by shear failure of hole threads controlled the final failure of the connection in the tests. Meanwhile, the out-of-plane deformation of tube wall resulted in the contact separation between hole threads and bolt threads, which in turn reduced the shear strength of hole threads. Finite element models (FEMs) allowing for the configuration details of the TOBs fixed connection are then developed and compared with the test results. Subsequently, the failure mechanism of hole threads and stress distribution of each component are analyzed based on FEM results. It was concluded that the ultimate strength of connection was not only concerned with the shear strength of hole threads, but also was influenced by the plastic out-of-plane deformation of tube wall. These studies lay a foundation for the establishment of suitable design methods of this type of connection.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2015

The tension type joint is a mechanically very efficient connection method, as it directly uses the load capacity of base metal or high tension bolt, the reduction of the number of drilling hole and fastening and the fatigue resistance. It is applied to the joint of girder and cross beam, horizontal joints of towers, beam to column joints, the secondary member joints of deck floor ends, and brackets. In this paper, static load tests for the T-type tension joint were conducted to investigate the structural behavior of the joint. The parameters were bolt diameter, flange thickness, and the reduction of clamping force of the joint. The failure modes and load capacity of joints and the effects of flange thickness, bolt diameter and clamping force were investigated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.727-745
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• 2018

The design criteria and the corresponding performance levels characterize the response of extended stiffened end-plate beam-to-column joints. In order to guarantee a ductile behavior, hierarchy criteria should be adopted to enforce the plastic deformations in the ductile components of the joint. However, the effectiveness of thesecriteria can be impaired if the actual resistance of the end-plate material largely differs from the design value due to the potential activation of brittle failure modes of the bolt rows (e.g., occurrence of failure mode 3 in the place of mode 1 per bolt row). Also the number and the position of bolt rows directly affect the joint response. The presence of a bolt row in the center of the connection does not improve the strength of the joint under both gravity, wind and seismic loading, but it can modify the damage pattern of ductile connections, reducing the gap opening between the end-plate and the column face. On the other hand, the presence of a central bolt row can influence the capacity of the joint to resist the catenary actions developing under a column loss scenario, thus improving the joint robustness. Aiming at investigating the influence of these features on both the cyclic behavior and the response under column loss, a wide range of finite element analyses (FEAs) were performed and the main results are described and discussed in this paper.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.54-63
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• 2014

Corrugated steel plate structure, which is built by assembling corrugated steel plate segments with bolts on site and filling the surroundings with quality soil, is widely used for buried structures as a eco-corridors, small bridges, and closed conduits. This experimental study is dealt with the static and fatigue performance of bolt connected corrugated steel plates under flexural loading. The experimental variables to verify the fatigue performance are bolt diameters and detailing of connection such as washer and the corrugation dimension of specimens has a $400{\times}150$ mm. The experimental ultimate strength of specimens under static loading was higher than the theoretical strength and all specimen failed by a bearing and tearing failure of bolt hole of upper plate. Therefore, a fatigue tests of specimens had 6.0mm and 7.0mm thickness was conducted in which the load range was up to 209kN and 516kN, respectively. From the fatigue test, failure patterns are changed from plate bearing and tearing which is a typical failure pattern of static failure to a bearing failure of plate and shear failure of bolt, and experimental fatigue limit at $2{\times}10^6$cycles is about 85MPa.