Bolted Connections

Bolted connections are employed mainly in structures subjected under reversed and vibration loads, over all in
members with heavy conditions.
The black hexagon bolt shown in the Figure below with nut and washer is the most commonly used structural
fastener.

Behaviour of bolts in joints.

Three types of behaviour appear for bolted connection as follows:

1. Shear due to shearing of their shank.

If the force P is large enough, the bolt could fail in shear; breaking by sliding of its fibres along the shear planes.
The area of the steel bolt resisting the failure is the circular area of the bolt shank. The resisting force depends
upon the number of shear planes.

2. Bearing due to bearing of steel plates or bolt material.

3. Tension in the direction of the acting force along the shank of the bolt.

Shear and bearing should be present at the same time in the joint. It will be seen that bolt may be designed on the
basis of their strength in shear or their strength in bearing.
In actual design the lesser of these two values will have to use.
When designing of this type of connection, the following questions should be asked:
1. Is the connection in single or double shear?
2. What is the safe appropriate shear load on one bolt?
3. What is the safe bearing load on one bolt?
Effective area of bolts.

Since threads can occur in the shear plane, the area As for resisting shear should normally be taken at the bottom of
the threads. When threads do not occur in the plane As may be taken as the shank area.
Tensile stress area for bolts as determined by ISO Standards shank and tensile areas area tabulated below.

Bolt diameter Tensile area Shank area

(mm) (mm2) (mm2)
12 84 113
16 157 201
20 245 314
22 303 380
24 353 452
27 459 572
30 561 707

Shear capacity
Provided that no reductions are required for long joints the shear capacity for shear plane Fv,Rd of a bolt shall be
taken as:
0.6 fub 0.87 f yb
Fv , Rd = f v , d As Where the design shear strength f v , d = but
M M
Bearing capacity.

The effective capacity of a bolt in bearing on any ply shall be taken as the lesser of the bearing capacity of the bolt
and the bearing capacity of the connected ply.

The bearing capacity of the bolt. Fbb , Rd = dtf bb , d

Where d is the nominal diameter of the bolt
t is the thickness of the ply (the minimum thickness on one part of the joint)
fbb,d is the design bearing strength of the bolt.

The bearing capacity of the connected ply. Fbp , Rd = dtf bp , d but 1 2e1 tfbp , d
Where fbp,d is the design bearing strength of the connected parts.
e1 is the edge distance.

fbb, d =
(
0.9 f ub + f yb ) and f bp , d =
(
0.8 fu + f y )
M M2
Where fyb is the specified minimum yield strength of the fastener
fub is the specified minimum ultimate tensile strength of the fastener
M is the partial safety factor Mr or Mb; as the case may be
fy is the specified minimum yield strength
fu is the specified minimum ultimate strength.

Bolt subjected to tension.

The tension capacity of a bolt Ft , Rd = f t , d As

0.7 f ub 1.0 f yb
Where the design tension capacity strength f t , d = but
M M
The partial safety factor for all the cases are M = 1.25
Combined shear and tension.

When bolts are subjected to both shear and tension then in addition to the conditions studied before the following
relationship shall be satisfied:
Fv , Sd Ft , Sd
+ 1.4
Fv.Rd Ft , Rd
Where Fv,Sd is the design shear force per bolt for the ultimate limit state
Ft,Sd is the design tensile force per bolt for the ultimate limit state
Fv,Rd is the shear capacity per bolt
Ft,Rd is the tension capacity per bolt.
Notes:
1. The size of the holes are given in Table 6.1
2. The edge distances and spacing of holes for fasteners are given in Table 6.2

Table 6.1 Maximum dimensions of holes

Clearance
Oversize
Bolt shank hole Short slotted hole Long slotted hole
hole
diameter diameter dimensions dimensions
diameter
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
(mm)

14 d+1 d+4 d+1 d+4 d+1 2.5d

14d22 d+2 d+5 d+2 d+6 d+2 2.5d
24 d+2 d+6 d+2 d+8 d+2 2.5d
27 d+3 d+8 d+3 d + 10 d+3 2.5d

Table 6.2 Edge distances and spacing of holes for fasteners.

1 2 3 4 5
1 Edge distances Hole distances
2 For a rolled, machine e1
Flame cut, sawn or 1.25 do
Minimum Planned edge e2 Minimum
edge hole 2.5 d0
3 For sheared or hand
distance distance p1
flame cut e1 1.4 do
edge and any end e2

4 Maximum
Hole
Maximum 12 t 14 t
e1 distance p1
Edge or or 200
e2 in
distance 150 mm mm
unstiffeded
plates
t is the thickness of the thinner outside ply
d o is the diameter of hole
Where the members are exposed to corrosive influences the maximum distances shall not exceed:
(a) for edge distances: 40 mm + 4t
(b) for hole distances: 16t or 200 mm.

Bolt grades.

The grade of the bolt is given by two figures separated by a point. The first figure is 1% of the minimum ultimate
strength in N/mm2 and the second is 1/10th of the percentage ratio of the minimum yield strength. Thus 5.6 grade
means that the minimum ultimate strength is 500 N/mm2 and the yield strength is 60% of this strength which is 300
N/Mm2. the nominal values of the yield strength fyb and the ultimate strength fub to be adopted as characteristic
values in calculations are given below.

Bolt grade 4.6 4.8 5.6 5.8 6.8 8.8 10.9

fyb (N/mm2) 240 320 300 400 480 640 900
fu (N/mm2) 400 400 500 500 600 800 1000