497

NOTE / NOTE

Prying action in bolted steel circular flange

connections1
Cindy Kumalasari, Yongcong Ding, and Murty K.S. Madugula

Abstract: Both the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) Handbook of Steel Construction and the American
Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Manual of Steel Construction discuss prying action in tee-type and angle-type
connections subjected to tensile force, but no guidance is provided for determining the prying force in bolted steel cir-
cular flange connections. However, such connections are very common in leg members of guyed lattice communication
towers. To determine the magnitude of the prying forces in such connections, an experimental investigation was con-
ducted on 10 bolted steel circular flange connections. On the basis of the test data, it is proposed that for use with
equations in the CISC handbook and AISC manual, the length of the flange tributary to each bolt (bolt pitch) be taken
as the circumference of the bolt circle divided by the number of bolts.
Key words: bolt pitch, bolted connections, circular flange, prying action, tensile force.
Résumé : Le manuel sur la construction en acier de l’ICCA et le manuel sur la construction en acier de l’AISC abor-
dent l’effort d’arrachement dans les raccordements de type en T et à cornière soumis à un effort de traction; cependant,
aucune ligne directrice n’est fournie pour déterminer l’effort d’arrachement des brides de raccordement circulaires en
acier boulonnées. Toutefois, de tels raccordements se retrouvent souvent dans les jambes des pylônes de communica-
tions en treillis haubanés. Afin de déterminer l’amplitude des efforts d’arrachement de tels raccordements, une étude
expérimentale a été réalisée sur 10 brides de raccordement circulaires en acier boulonnées. En se basant sur les don-
nées de ces essais, il est proposé que la longueur de bride calculée pour chaque boulon soit la circonférence du cercle
de perçage divisée par le nombre de boulons pour utilisation dans les équations fournies dans les manuels de l’ICCA
et de l’AISC.

Mots clés : diamètre sur flancs des boulons, raccordements boulonnés, membrure circulaire, effort d’arrachement, effort
de traction.

[Traduit par la Rédaction] Kumalasari et al. 500

1. Introduction ual of Steel Construction (AISC 2001) discuss prying action

One common type of splice for solid round leg members
of guyed lattice communication towers consists of circular
flange plates welded to the members and bolted together.
These will be subjected to tension as a result of applied lat-
eral loads (wind or earthquake). The Canadian Institute of
Steel Construction Handbook of Steel Construction (CISC
2004) and the American Institute of Steel Construction Man-
Received 1 December 2004. Revision accepted 10 June 2005.
Published on the NRC Research Press Web site at
http://cjce.nrc.ca on 2 June 2006.
C. Kumalasari, Y. Ding, and M.K.S. Madugula.2
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Windsor, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada.
Written discussion of this note is welcomed and will be
received by the Editor until 31 August 2006.
1
This note is one of a selection of papers published in this
Special Issue on Steel Research.
2
Corresponding author (e-mail: madugul@uwindsor.ca).
only in tee-type and angle-type connections subjected to ten-
sile force, and no guidance is provided for determining the
prying force in bolted steel circular flange connections. To
use the formulas given in those publications (see Appen-
dices A and B), one must determine the value of p, that is,
the length of the flange tributary to each bolt (bolt pitch). In
the case of tee-type connections and angle-type connections,
this dimension p is simply the spacing between the bolts in
the longitudinal direction. It is assumed that in the case of
circular flange connections, the bolt pitch can be taken as
the distance between the centres of bolts measured along the
bolt circle (which is equal to the circumference of the bolt
circle divided by the number of bolts). To test the validity of
this assumption, tests were carried out on 10 bolted steel cir-
cular flange connections.
2. Experimental investigation
Two types of circular flange connections were included in
the experimental investigation (Figs. 1a and 1b). Figure 1a
shows a regular circular flange connection with constant

Can. J. Civ. Eng. 33: 497–500 (2006) doi:10.1139/L05-060 © 2006 NRC Canada
498 Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 33, 2006

Fig. 1. (a) Regular bolted steel circular flange connection (speci- Fig. 2. Test setup.
mens 1 and 2). (b) Special type of bolted steel circular flange
connection (specimens 3–10).

Fig. 3. Test specimen 6 after failure, showing fracture of bolts.

flange thickness. Figure 1b shows a special type of connec-

tion for which the ends of the flanges were milled a short
distance to reduce their contact area; however, the required
minimum edge distance for the bolts was retained.
All 10 specimens with steel circular flange connections to
splice tension members were made from 38.1 mm (1 1/2 in.)
diameter rod and 178 mm (7 in.) diameter flange plate. The
flanges were from ASTM A572-50 grade steel (yield
strength 345 MPa (50 ksi). The flange thickness for the reg-
ular connection was 7.94 mm (5/16 in.), with a weld size of
19.1 mm (3/4 in.). For the eight specimens with the special
type of connection, the flange thicknesses varied from 9.53 mm
(3/8 in.) to 19.1 mm (3/4 in.) (see column 2 of Table 1) and
had the end thickness reduced by 3.18 mm (1/8 in.) for a
distance of 15.9 mm (5/8 in.), as shown in Fig. 1b. The weld
size for this special type of connection was 12.7 mm through the fracturing of bolts, as shown in Fig. 3, which is
(1/2 in.). All specimens were connected with four 12.7 mm a close-up of failed specimen 6. The load–deflection curve
(1/2 in.) diameter ASTM A325 bolts with a bolt torque of for this specimen is shown in Fig. 4. Initially, the load–elon-
149 N·m (110 lb·ft) on 121 mm (4 3/4 in.) bolt circle diame- gation curve was linear, as expected. Under increasing load
ters. The bolt length was 57.2 mm (2 1/4 in.) for 7.94 mm the bolts elongated, and the load–elongation curve became
(5/16 in.) thick flange specimens and 63.5 mm (2 1/2 in.) for flatter. Finally, failure occurred at 324 kN because two bolts
other specimens. fractured (Fig. 3).
Tests were carried out on 15 of the bolts to determine From the tensile strength of the bolts and the failure load
their tensile strength. It was found that the average tensile of the connection, the prying force is calculated as follows:
strength was 90.3 kN (20.3 kip), with a range of 88.1–
94.7 kN (19.8–21.3 kip). The circular flange connections [1] Total prying force = number of bolts
were tested in a 600 kN (135 kip) Tinius Olsen Universal × tensile strength of one bolt
Testing Machine (Willow Grove, Pennsylvania), as shown in
Fig. 2. The failure loads (peak loads) are given in column 3 − experimental failure load
of Table 1. For connections with flange plates thickness of total prying force
9.53 mm (3/8 in.) or less (specimens 1–4), the failure was by [2] Prying force per bolt =
number of bolts
excessive bending of the flange plates, with consequent
elongation and bending of the bolts. For connections with These experimentally determined prying forces are com-
thicker flange plates (specimens 5–10), the specimens failed pared with the values calculated from the equations given in

© 2006 NRC Canada

Kumalasari et al. 499

Table 1. Comparison of experimental and calculated prying forces.

Calculation
Experimental Prying force per bolt (Q)
Average failure Total prying Prying force
Specimen Flange thickness Failure load, load (4Pf), force (4Q), per bolt (Q), CISC, (2004) AISC, (2001)
No. (t), in. (mm) kip (kN) kip (kN) kip (kN) kip (kN) kip (kN) kip (kN)
1 66.7 (297)
5/16 (7.94) 65.6 (292) 15.6 (69.4) 3.90 (17.4) 4.24 (18.9) 4.24 (18.9)
2 64.5 (287)

3 52.7 (234)
3/8 (9.53) 52.4 (233) 28.8 (128) 7.20 (32.0) 6.55 (29.1) 6.54 (29.1)
4 52.2 (232)

5 59.6 (265)
1/2 (12.7) 66.2 (294) 15.0 (66.8) 3.75 (16.7) 3.77 (16.8) 3.76 (16.7)
6 72.8 (324)

7 80.0 (356)
5/8 (15.9) 80.6 (359) 0.573 (2.55) 0.143 (0.638) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0)
8 81.2 (361)

9 80.0 (356)
3/4 (19.1) 79.2 (352) 2.01 (8.95) 0.503 (2.24) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0)
10 78.4 (349)

Fig. 4. Load–elongation curve for specimen 6.

350

300

250

200
Load (kN)

150

100

50

0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0

Elongation of the connection (mm)

the CISC handbook and AISC manual (see Appendices A
and B). The nominal yield strength of the flange, 345 MPa
(50 ksi), is used in the calculation. The bolt pitch is taken as
the distance between the centres of bolts along the bolt cir-
cle (which is equal to the circumference of the bolt circle di-
vided by the number of bolts), and the results are presented
in columns 7 and 8 of Table 1.
It should be pointed out that in the calculations of the pry-
ing forces based on eq. [1], the average value is used for the
tensile strength of the bolt, and any variation in tensile

© 2006 NRC Canada

500 Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 33, 2006

strength for individual bolts is not considered. This explains ⎛ KP ⎞ 1

[A3] α = ⎜ 2 f −1 ⎟
the discrepancy between the experimentally determined pry- ⎝ t ⎠ δ
ing force and the calculated prying force. This also makes it
impossible to determine the error in the predicted prying ⎛ b′ δα ⎞
force as a percentage of the failure load. [A4] Q = Pf ⎜⎜ ⎟
⎟
⎝ a′ 1 + δα ⎠
3. Conclusions where a is the distance from the bolt line to the edge of
flange (not more than 1.25b) (mm); a′ = a + (d/2) (mm); b is
The following conclusions are applicable for the connec- the distance from the bolt line to the face of the fillet welds
tion size and shapes used in the investigation. A comparison (mm); b′= b – (d/2) (mm); d is the bolt diameter (mm); d ′ is
of columns 6, 7, and 8 of Table 1 clearly shows that the as- the nominal hole diameter (mm); Fy is the yield strength of
sumption regarding the bolt pitch (p) is reasonable. There- the flange material (MPa); K is the parameter as defined in
fore, the equations given in the CISC (2004) handbook and eq. [A1]; p is the length of the flange tributary of each bolt,
the AISC (2001) manual can be used to calculate the prying or bolt pitch (mm); Pf is the applied tensile load per bolt
force in circular flange connections, in addition to those in (kN); Q is the prying force per bolt (kN); t is the thickness
tee-type and angle-type hangers. The prying forces calcu- of the flange (mm); and φ is the resistance factor for the ma-
lated on the basis of the CISC equations yield the same val- terial (= 0.9 but is taken as 1.0 for the investigation).
ues as the values obtained using the AISC equations.
Appendix B. Calculation of prying force
Acknowledgements according to AISC Manual of Steel
The authors would like to thank Electronics Research Inc., Construction
Chandler, Indiana, USA, for donating the test specimens and Refer to Figs. 1a and 1b.
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada for providing financial support for the investigation. 4.44 φ rnb′
[B1] tc =
p Fy
References
1 ⎡ Pf ⎛ t c ⎞ ⎤
2
AISC. 2001. Manual of steel construction. American Institute of [B2] α= ⎢ ⎜ ⎟ −1 ⎥ ≥ 0
δ ⎢ φrn ⎝ t ⎠ ⎥⎦
Steel Construction, Chicago, Ill. ⎣
CISC. 2004. Handbook of steel construction. Canadian Institute of
Steel Construction, Willowdale, Ont. ⎡ 2 ⎤
⎢ b′ ⎛⎜ t ⎞⎟ ⎥
[B3] Q = φ rn δα ⎜ ⎟
⎢ a′ ⎝ t c ⎠ ⎥
Appendix A. Calculation of prying force ⎣ ⎦
according to CISC Handbook of Steel where a, a′, b, b′, d, d′, p, and t are as defined in Appendix
Construction A (except units are in inches); Fy is the yield strength of the
flange material (ksi); Pf is the applied tensile load per bolt
Refer to Figs. 1a and 1b.
(kip); rn is the tensile strength of the bolt (kip); tc is the
4b′103 flange thickness required for developing the design tensile
[A1] K= strength of bolts with no prying action (in.); δ is as defined
φpFy
in eq. [A2]; and φ is the resistance factor for the bolt (= 0.9
but is taken as 1.0 for the investigation; therefore, the con-
d′
[A2] δ =1 − stant 4.44 in eq. [B1] (which is derived from 4/φ) becomes 4
p in the calculation).

© 2006 NRC Canada