• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.353-361
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• 1989

A parametric study of load distribution in bolt-nut joints is performed by the method of finite element contact analysis. The contacting surface is assumed unbonded and frictionless. Multi-body contact analysis is performed in elastic region under the assumption of axi-symmetric stress state. Load acting on the first thread from the fastened plate is much greater than that on the other threads in the standard setting. But the load distribution is shown to be improved by making the center of contact force acting on the nut surface move outwards. Such a modification is possible by enlarging the gap between bolt shank and fastened plate or by inserting suitable washers. Shape modification of the standard nut by the making a groove and a step on the nut surface is also suggested, which results in almost uniform load distribution and considerable decrease in the maximum stress of the joint.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.315-329
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• 2020

Through bolt connections in Concrete Filled Steel Tubes (CFSTs) has been proved to be good in terms of seismic performance and constructability. Stiffened extended end plate connection with full through type bolt helps to avoid field weld altogether, and hence to improve the quality of joints. An experimental study was conducted on the hysteretic performance of square interior beam-column connections using flat extended end plates with through bolt. The study focuses on the effect of the bond between the tie rod and the core concrete on the cyclic performance of the joint. The study also quantifies how much the interior joint is getting strengthened due to the confinement effect induced by bi-directional bolting, which is widely used in 3D moment resisting frames. For a better understanding of the mechanism and for the prediction of shear capacity of the panel zone, a mathematical model was generated. The various parameters included in the model are the influence of axial load, amount of prestress induced by bolt tightening, anchorage, and the concrete strut action. The study investigates the strength, stiffness, ductility, and energy dissipation characteristics. The results indicate that the seismic resistance is at par with American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) seismic recommendations. The bidirectional bolting and bond effect have got remarkable influence on the performance of joints.

• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2019

The reinforcement effect of micro-bolt for a bonded scarf joint was investigated. Three scarf ratios of 1/10, 1/20, and 1/30 were considered to examine the effect of scarf patch configuration on joint strength. To maintain the same density of micro-bolt, 16, 32, and 48 bolts were installed in the scarf joint specimens with scarf ratios of 1/10, 1/20, and 1/30, respectively. Tests were also carried out on the joints that are bonded with only adhesive and that are fastened with only micro-bolts to obtain reference values. The average failure loads of the adhesive joints with scarf ratios of 1/10, 1/20, and 1/30 were 29.7, 39.6, and 44.8 kN, respectively. In case of micro-bolt reinforcement, the failure loads at the same scarf ratios were 28.4, 37.2, and 40.1 kN, respectively, which corresponds to 96, 94, and 90% of the pure adhesive joint failure loads. In the case of using only micro-bolts, the failure loads were only 13-25% of the average failure loads of pure adhesive joints. Fatigue test was also conducted for the joints with scarf ratio of 1/10. The results show that the fatigue strength of hybrid joints using both adhesive and microbolts together slightly increased compared to the fatigue strength of adhesive joint, but the rate of increase was small to 2-3%. Through this study, it was confirmed that the reinforcement effect of micro-bolt is negligible in the scarf joints where shear stress is dominating the failure, unlike in the structure where peel stress is dominant.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.459-465
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• 2016

In this paper, it was performed the fatigue test to examine the effect of cyclic loading for the simple T-joint. Axial force of bolt by clamping and the change of the force by applied load were measured in the joint. And the bolt force, the failure mode and the fatigue strength under cyclic loading were investigated. The parameters of the tension joint were set to be the flange thickness and the diameter of bolt to a different stiffness of the joint in response to the combination. From the fatigue test, failure mode of tensile joints under cyclic loading could be evaluated using a static ultimate load of the specific failure mode in EC3. The fatigue strength of the tension joints was considerably higher than the fatigue strength of the EC3(36) that does not consider a lever action. However, the additional axial force by lever action occurs to an increase in the axial force of the bolt it requires a careful evaluation of the fatigue strength.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.293-301
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• 2019

Bolted joints are commonly used in civil infrastructure and mechanical assembly structures. Monitoring and identifying the connection status of bolts is the frontier problem of structural research. The existing research is mainly on the looseness of a single bolt. This article presents a study of assessing the loosening/tightening health state and identifying the loose bolt by using ultrasonic guided wave in a bolt group joint. A bolt-tightening index was proposed for evaluating the looseness of a bolt connection based on correlation coefficient. The tightening/loosening state of the bolt was simulated by changing the bolt torque. More than 180 different measurement tests for total of six bolts were conducted. The results showed that with the bolt torque increases, value of the proposed bolt-tightening index increases. The proposed bolt-tightening index trend was very well reproduced by an analytical expression using a function of the torque applied with an overall percentage error lower than 5%. The developed damage index based on the proposed bolt-tightening index can also be applied to locate the loosest bolt in a bolt group joint. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a bolt group joint experiment with different positions of bolt looseness was performed. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is effective to detect and locate bolt looseness and has a good prospect of finding applications in real-time structural monitoring.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.709-726
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• 2015

In this study, a novel vision-based bolt-loosening monitoring technique is proposed for bolted joints connecting tubular steel segments of the wind turbine tower (WTT) structure. Firstly, a bolt-loosening detection algorithm based on image processing techniques is developed. The algorithm consists of five steps: image acquisition, segmentation of each nut, line detection of each nut, nut angle estimation, and bolt-loosening detection. Secondly, experimental tests are conducted on a lab-scale bolted joint model under various bolt-loosening scenarios. The bolted joint model, which is consisted of a ring flange and 32 sets of bolt and nut, is used for simulating the real bolted joint connecting steel tower segments in the WTT. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed vision-based technique is evaluated by bolt-loosening monitoring in the lab-scale bolted joint model.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 2018

A flange joint is a pipe connection used to prevent the leakage of high-pressure fluids by inserting a gasket and tightening the bolts. Among several kinds of gaskets available, metal ring type joint gaskets are most widely used in conditions that require high-temperature and high-pressure fluid flow, such as oil pipelines, gas pipes, pumps, valve joints, etc. The purpose of this study is to investigate the contact pressure and stress characteristics closely related to the sealing performance of Class 900 flange joints used in high temperature and high pressure environments. The dimensions of flange joints with five different nominal pipe sizes were determined with reference to those specified in ASME 16.5. The metal ring gaskets inserted in the joints were octagonal and oval gaskets. The bolt tensile forces calculated from the tightening torques were input as the bolt pretension loads in order to determine the contact pressure and stress levels after fastening. Loading was composed of three steps, including the fastening step, and different amounts of applied pressures were used in each analysis to investigate the effect of fluid pressure on the contact force of the joints. A general-purpose software, ANSYS 17.2, was used for the analysis.

• 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.

• 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.24 no.6
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• pp.643-658
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• 2017

High strength preloadable bolt assemblies are commonly adopted in beam-to-column bolted connections. Nowadays, two systems of high strength preloadable grade 10.9 bolt assembly are recommended in Europe for structural applications, namely HR and HV, which are characterized by different failure modes. Recently, experimental tests performed on HR and HV bolt assemblies highlighted that the type of bolt assembly may significantly influence the joint response. Therefore, the accuracy of numerical modelling of bolt assemblies is crucial to simulate effectively the non-linear behaviour of bolted joints with either failure mode 2 or mode 3 of the bolt rows. In light of these considerations, this present paper describes and discusses some modelling criteria for both HR and HV bolts to be implemented in 3D finite element models by finite element analysis and structural designers. The comparison between the calibrated models and experimental results shows the accuracy of the proposed assumptions in simulating all stages of assembly tensile response.