• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.407-426
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• 2022

Superior to traditional welded studs, high strength friction-grip bolted shear connectors facilitate the assembling and demounting of the composite members, which maximizes the potential for efficiency in the construction and retrofitting of new and old structures respectively. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the structural properties of high strength friction-grip bolts used in steel concrete composite beams. By means of push-out tests, an experimental study was conducted on post-installed high strength friction-grip bolts, considering the effects of different bolt size, concrete strength, bolt tensile strength and bolt pretension. The test results showed that bolt shear fracture was the dominant failure mode of all specimens. Based on the load-slip curves, uplifting curves and bolt tensile force curves between the precast concrete slab and steel beam obtained by push-out tests, the anti-slip performance of steel-concrete interface and shear behavior of bolt shank were studied, including the quantitative analysis of anti-slip load, and anti-slip stiffness, frictional coefficient, shear stiffness of bolt shank and ultimate shear capacity. Meanwhile, the interfacial anti-slip stiffness and shear stiffness of bolt shank were defined reasonably. In addition, a total of 56 push-out finite element models verified by the experimental results were also developed, and used to conduct parametric analyses for investigating the shear behavior of high-strength bolted shear connectors in steel-concrete composite beams. Finally, on ground of the test results and finite element simulation analysis, a new design formula for predicting shear capacity was proposed by nonlinear fitting, considering the bolt diameter, concrete strength and bolt tensile strength. Comparison of the calculated value from proposed formula and test results given in the relevant references indicated that the proposed formulas can give a reasonable prediction.

• 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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.647-659
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• 2018

Through extensive research, there exist a new type of connection between railway bridge girders and steel-concrete composite panels. In addition to conventional shear connectors, newly developed blind bolts have been recently adopted for retrofitting. However, the body of knowledge on their influence and application to railway structures has not been thoroughly investigated. This study has thus placed a particular emphasis on the application of blind bolts on the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a feasible alternative constituent of railway track upgrading. Finite element modeling has been used to simulate the behaviours of the precast steel-concrete panels with common types of bolt connection using commercially available package, ABAQUS. The steel-concrete composite track slabs have been designed in accordance with Australian Standards AS5100. These precast steel-concrete panels are then numerically retrofitted by three types of most practical bold connections: head studded shear connector, Ajax blind bolt and Lindapter hollow bolt. The influences of bolt connections on load and stress transfers and structural behaviour of the composite track slabs are highlighted in this paper. The numerical results exhibit that all three bolts can distribute stresses effectively and can be installed on the bridge girder. However, it is also found that Lindapter hollow bolts are superior in minimising structural responses of the composite track slabs to train loading.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2023

Steel bolted joint is an important part of steel structure, and its damage directly affects the bearing capacity and durability of steel structure. Currently, the existing research mainly focuses on the identification of corroded bolts and corroded bolts respectively, and there are few studies on multiple states. A detection framework of corroded and loosened bolts is proposed in this study, and the innovations can be summarized as follows: (i) Vision Transformer (ViT) is introduced to replace the third and fourth C3 module of you-only-look-once version 5s (YOLOv5s) algorithm, which increases the attention weights of feature channels and the feature extraction capability. (ii) Three states of the steel bolts are considered, including corroded bolt, bolt missing and clean bolt. (iii) Line segment detector (LSD) is introduced for bolt rotation angle calculation, which realizes bolt looseness detection. The improved YOLOv5s model was validated on the dataset, and the mean average precision (mAP) was increased from 0.902 to 0.952. In terms of a lab-scale joint, the performance of the LSD algorithm and the Hough transform was compared from different perspective angles. The error value of bolt loosening angle of the LSD algorithm is controlled within 1.09%, less than 8.91% of the Hough transform. Furthermore, the proposed framework was applied to fullscale joints of a steel bridge in China. Synthetic images of loosened bolts were successfully identified and the multiple states were well detected. Therefore, the proposed framework can be alternative of monitoring steel bolted joints for management department.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.173-189
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• 2009

This paper presents a study on the behavior and design of bolted stainless steel plates under in-plane tension. Using an experimentally validated finite element (FE) program strength of stainless steel bolted plates under tension is examined with an emphasis on plate bearing mode of failure. A numerical parametric study was carried out which includes examining the behavior of stainless steel plate models with various proportions, bolt locations and in two different material grades. The models were designed to fail particularly in bolt tear-out and material piling-up modes. In the numerical simulation of the models, non-linear stress-strain material behavior of stainless steel was considered by using expressions which represent the full range of strains up to the ultimate tensile strain. Using the results of the parametric study, the effect of variations in bolt positions, such as end and edge distance and bolt pitch distance on bearing resistance of stainless steel bolted plates under in-plane tension has been investigated. Finally, the results obtained are critically examined using design estimations of the currently available international design guidance.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.330-335
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• 2012

Roll formed steel bolts are electrodeposited with Zn-Ni to protect themselves from corrosion. However, white storage stain or white rust(corrosion) is found on Zn-Ni electrodeposited surface of steel bolts when they are exposed to moisture. In this paper a new process is introduced to protect Zn-Ni electrodeposited steel bolt from white storage stain or white rust for a long time under the salt spray test and high humidity test conditions. The better corrosion resistance could be gotten by the additional process of Ni-P electroless deposition and heat treatment to conventional manufacturing method of Zn-Ni coated steel bolt. The corrosion resistance of Zn-Al powder slurry coated steel bolt showed better than that of Zn-Ni electrodeposited one.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.12 no.2 s.45
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• pp.177-185
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• 2000

An experimental research to evaluate the slip coefficients of high-strength friction-type bolt connection of weathering steel plate has been performed in this paper. The test specimens with mill scale or shot blast had been exposed in open air during 3 and 6 months and cleaning of rust surface by hand brushing, power tool brushing and no cleaning was considered. The relaxation of bolt clamping force had also been measured during 600 hours. It was found that slip coefficients increased to the value over 0.6 with exposure except mill scale surface by power tool brushing. The relaxation of bolt tension force in exposed specimens also increased and maximum value reached to about 10%.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.588-595
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• 2016

This paper is a study on head bolts that are used in A/C compressors to reduce production cost and solve leak problems on the head bolt seat area that causes massive intermittent malfunctioning during production. In this study, the pre-heat treated steel, which was used as a material in the head bolt, eliminated the heat treatment process after forging. The pre-heat treated steel head bolts, which have 10 % lower tensile strength than the conventional SCM 435 head bolts, were selected after considering the results of creeping rupture properties, axial force, and stress concentration per tensile strength variation. Then, the performance test and the durability test with the A/C compressor that was assembled with the pre-heat treated steel head bolts were performed and verified. Based on the results, the pre-heat treated steel head bolts developed in this study saved 7.3 % in production cost by eliminating the heat treatment process and the logistics process. Furthermore, the leak problem on the head bolt seat area in the A/C compressor was addressed significantly on the mass production assembly line.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.547-564
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• 2023

This study investigates the effect of bolt preloading on the rotational stiffness of stainless steel end-plate connections. An experimental programme incorporating 11 full-scale joint specimens are carried out comparing the behaviours of fully pre-tensioned (PT) and snug-tightened (ST) flush/extended end-plate connections, made of austenitic or lean duplex stainless steels. It is observed from the tests that the presence of bolt preloading leads to a significant increase in the rotational stiffness. A parallel finite element analysis (FEA) validated against the test results demonstrates that the geometric imperfection of end-plate has a strong influence on the moment-rotation response of preloaded end-plate connections, which is crucial to explain the observed "two-stage" behaviour of these connections. Based on the data obtained from the tests and FE parametric study, the performance of the Eurocode 3 predictive model is evaluated, which exhibits a significant deviation in predicting the rotational stiffness of stainless steel end-plate connections. A modified bi-linear model, which incorporates three key properties, is therefore proposed to enable a better prediction. Finally, the effect of bolt preloading is demonstrated at the system (structure) level considering the serviceability of semi-continuous stainless steel beams with end-plate connections.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2008

The analysis and results of flexural behavior for steel composite beam with built-up cross-section considering bolt deformation are presented in this paper. The bolt deformation and the restrict effect due to bolt-connection and friction are considered to investigate the flexural behavior of steel composite beam. Nonlinear spring element in ABAQUS is used to consider bolt deformation, also the results are compared with those in case bolt deformations are ignored. The displacement, bending stresses and shear stresses are calculated by F.E. model, and these results are compared with the analytical value of no interaction beam, partial interaction beam and full interaction beam. As a result of analysis, the behavior of composite beam is more dependant on the composite rate than the friction of the steel. When the composite rate is more than 50%, the behavior of composite beam considering the effects of bolt deformation is similar to that of fully composite beam.