DESIGN OF CONNECTIONS

Intro

 Steel frame buildings consist of a number of

different types of structural elements.
 Each has to be properly attached to the
neighbouring parts of the structure
 Involve several for of connections
Main classes of connections

a) Where a change of direction occurs eg

 beam to column connections,
 beam to beam connections and
 connections between different members in trusses
b) To ensure manageable sizes of steelwork for
transportation and erection eg
 columns are normally spliced every two or three storeys
c) Where a change of component occurs, including
connections of the steelwork to other parts of the
building eg
 column bases, connections to concrete cores and
connections with walls, floors and roofs
 BS 5950;
 Part 1: Code of practice for design- rolled and
welded sections
 Part 2: specifications for materials, fabrication and
erection- rolled and welded sections
 BS EN 1993-1-8
 Rules for the design of joints between structural
members
 Guidance for the design of bolted and welded
steel connections subject to predominantly static
loading.
Bolted connections

Containing
Loaded in Containing
non-preloaded
shear/tension preloaded bolt
bolts

Slip resistance Slip resistance

of preloaded of preloaded
bolt at SLS bolt at ULS
 Welded connections

Full Partial Flare

Fillet welds
Fillet welds penetration penetration Plug welds groove
all round
butt welds butt welds welds
 Process of welding
Consist of heating and melting steel in and
around the gap between the pieces of steel
that are being welded together.
Welding rod – consist of steel rod surrounded
by a flux which help the metal to melt and
flow into the joint
Easiest method uses electric arc welding
Welding tends to be
expensive
Temporary platforms with safe access have
to be provided

Work can be delayed unless welds are

protected from the weather

Electric current has to be supplied to the

working point

Temporary bolts and cleats are still needed

to hold members together

Cost of inspection
Fundamental assumptions

The welds are homogeneous and isotropic elements

The parts connected by the welds are rigid and their

deformations are negligible

Only nominal stresses due to external loads are

considered. Effects of residual stresses, stress
concentrations and shape of the welds are neglected in
static design.
 The assumptions lead to uniform stress
distribution in the weld
 Variation of stress and strain are observed
along the weld.
 Ductility of the material allow redistribution
of stresses along the weld, producing
reduction of stress magnitude.
 Final stress distribution will be optimum
when the yield stress is reached over the full
length of the weld
 Fillet weld is normally preferred to butt
welding (approximately 80% of all structural
welds);
 Requires only simple preparation of the parts
to be joined
 Can usually be accomplished with relatively
simple equipment
 Does not require special skills of the welder
 EC3 specifies that
 Filler metal shall have mechanical properties
 Yield strength
 Ultimate tensile strength
 Elongation at failure and minimum charpy V-notch
energy value, corresponding to parent material\

** thus, the strength of the parent material is normally

taken as reference strength for weld calculation and
design
Welded connections

 Butt welds
Butt weld

 Butt weld filler metal may be considered as

parent material
 To determine the resistance of the joint,
calculation is based on;

Throat area
 ie the penetration area
 Depending on the penetration;
 Full /partial penetration welds.
Full penetration butt welds

 Calculation  not necessary, because filler

metal strength is at least as high as parent
metal strength ( of the weaker part joined )
 The throat thickness of the plate, is equal to
the thickness of the plate.
 The butt weld may be effectively regarded as
simply replacing the parent material
Butt weld with full
penetration
Partial penetration

 The throat thickness is the depth of

preparation, slightly reduced
 The throat thickness must be taken as the
depth of the butt preparation -2mm ( where
the preparation depth is the depth of the
bevel )
Butt welds with partial
penetration
Stress distribution in butt
weld
 In the ultimate state, plastic distribution of
stresses is assumed
 In elastic stage, the stresses is not uniformly
distributed especially not when the filler
metal yield point is much higher that the
parent material.
 Fillet weld
 Weld leg length , s
 Effective throat size, a < 0.7s
Strength of welds
Strength of weld

 Resulting weld should be considerably

stronger than the pieces held together.
 Design strength can be taken as the same as
the parent metal if the joint is a butt weld.
 OR a fillet weld with following conditions;
 Weld is symmetrical
 Made with suitable electrodes which will
produce specimens at least as strong as the
parent metal
 Sum of throat size> the connected parts
 Weld is subjected to direct
tension/compression
 Take example, consider a bar loaded by an
axial tensile force. The bar will elongate, and
due to poisson ratio effect, its initial width
will decrease.
 The lateral contraction is uniform is the bar is
homogeneous.
 But near the weld line (has different yield
point), lateral contraction is less.
 This effect causes a
varying stress
distribution along
the weld
 The tensile stress at
the centre is greater
than the average
stress
 Good engineering practice
To avoid high stress concentrations occurring
at sharp re-entrant corners in joints
connecting different cross-sections.
 avoiding stress is important
 If the connection will be subject to fatique loads
 To reduce stress concentration, gradual transition
from one section to other section
Transition in section
Fillet weld

 In EC3, assumptions concern mechanical and

geometric characteristics
 Mechanical properties – shall be compatible
with parent material properties
 Throat area – product of throat thickness and
the effective length of the weld
Effective length

 Should be taken as the actual length

 Equal to overall length of the full size fillet,
including end returns if the fillet is continuous
 For long and intermitten welds, the effective
length can be reduced
 Fillet welds, required to carry loads normally
produced with a throat thickness of at least
4mm.
 Welds with effective lengths shorter than
40mm @ 6 times the throat thickness, should
be ignored for transmission of forces.
From EC3

Directional Simplified
method method
• Similar to BS 5950

 Load acting on the fillet weld id resolved into

load components parallel and transverse to
the plan of its throat.
 Calculate stress
Corresponding stresses

normal stress perpendicular to the

plane of the throat

shear stress in the plane of the

throat area, transverse to the weld axis

shear stress in the plane of the

throat area, parallel to the weld axis
normal stress parallel to the weld
Corresponding stresses

In EC3, Fillet weld will be satisfied with following

conditions

fu is the nominal ultimate strength of weaker part

γ Mw is the partial safety factor for welds (1.25)
 Simplified design formula based on mean
stress method, which
 Consider the weld strength as being equal to
the shear strength, independent of the
direction of the force acting on it.
 Adequate resistance: design value of weld
force per unit length Fw,Ed ≤ design of weld
resistance per unit length Fw,Rd
Simplified method for the
design resistance of fillet
weld

 Throat thickness, a = 0.7 * leg length

 Design shear strength of the weld;

 β: table 4.1 (=0.85 for S275)

Design detail

 Fillet weld
 Effective throat size < 0.7 s
Throat thickness

 Height of the
largest triangle;
within fusion faces
and weld surface,
measured
perpendicular to the
outer side of the
triangle
 a > 3mm
 Generally, butt weld require no calculation for
design. Only required of partial penetration
welds
 Following EC3, a mean stress method as well
as an alternative method ( AnnexM) are given
for fillet welds.
 The mean stress method, does not require
calculation but leads to more conservative
results.
Bolts

 Depends on the shape of the connections

 Location of the bolts
 Whether they are loaded in tension, in shear
of in combined tension and shear

** to accommodate some mismatch in hole

distances and bolt diameters, holes are
normally drilled 2mm in diameter greater
that the bolt diameter clearance holes
 Bolts may be preloaded to prevent slip
 For statically loaded structures, such as
buildings, preloaded bolts should normally be
avoided.
 Special treatment for the contact surfaces are
expensive.
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