Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 10151031 www.elsevier.

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Advanced nite element modeling of bolted Tstub connection components

J.A. Swanson a,, D.S. Kokan b, R.T. Leon c
a

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH 452210071, USA b Uzun and Case Engineers, Atlanta GA 30361, USA c School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 303320355, USA Received 19 February 2001; received in revised form 14 August 2001; accepted 25 October 2001

Abstract The results of a nite element investigation of the behavior of T-stub anges are presented and compared to experimental data. Two types of models were employed; a three dimensional T-stub model consisting of brick and wedge elements and several two dimensional T-stub ange models consisting of rectangular and triangular elements. All models incorporated nonlinear material characteristics, non-linear geometric behavior, and several contact interactions. The two-dimensional models were used to conduct a parametric study that augmented the experimental program and led to simpler behavior models. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Finite element; Connection; Modelling; Component; Bolt; Stiffness; Steel; Prying; T-stub; Tee

1. Introduction Renewed interest in bolted connections for use in special moment-resisting frames has prompted the research community to develop new methods of characterizing

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-513-556-3774; fax: +1-513-556-2599. E-mail address: james.swanson@uc.edu (J.A. Swanson).

0143-974X/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 4 3 - 9 7 4 X ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 9 8 - 0

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connection behavior [1]. Under the sponsorship of SAC,1 a comprehensive research program was undertaken at the Georgia Institute of Technology to study the strength, stiffness, and ductility characteristics of two types of bolted connections; T-stub connections and clip angle connections. A discussion of the experimental program and T-stub connection strength determination was provided by Swanson and Leon [2], simplied modeling issues are discussed in Swanson and Leon [3], and a complete documentation of the research program including the nite element modeling appears in Swanson [4]. The experimental portion of the research was supplemented by several nite element analyses that were intended to provide insight into the stress distributions and basic mechanisms of T-stub behavior. The nite element analyses were intended to be used as a tool to provide a better understanding of T-stub behavior. This understanding would then lead to the development of a mathematically robust and mechanistically reliable simplied model. Although it was never the intent of the research to develop procedures or guidelines for nite element modeling of T-stubs, the methods and results of the nite element investigation are worthy of discussion.

2. Overview The ABAQUS nite element code was used to analyze three models. The rst model was a 3D solid model incorporating contact with friction and full non-linear material properties. Although the 3D model proved to be too computationally intensive to be used extensively, it provided valuable understanding of the overall T-stub behavior including pressure distributions on contact surfaces, two-dimensional plate bending behavior in the T-stub ange, and localized bending effects in the tension bolts. The second model used 2D plane strain elements to model a unit width of the T-stub ange. This model again incorporated contact and full non-linear material properties and was used to study the ange deformation characteristics. The third model used 2D plane stress elements to model the stem of a T-stub. Several behavioral characteristics were studied with this model including overall stem stiffness and stress distributions, bolt bearing stiffness, and lack of t issues such as initial shear bolt alignment.

3. Three-dimensional solid T-stub model A model consisting of three-dimensional solid elements was created to gain a better understanding of T-stub behavior. The model, developed by Kokan [5], is

SAC is a joint venture made up of the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC), the Applied Technology Council (ATC), and the California Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREe). SAC is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA).

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shown in Figure 1. It replicates a T-stub specimen from the experimental program (TA-20) and consists of 7320 solid elements, 52,578 degrees of freedom, 15 contact interactions and non-linear material and geometrical characteristics. A half model was used to take advantage of symmetry and the model consists of several independent bodies that interact with each other via contact denitions. The model was subdivided into the base material of the T-stub, two tension bolts, ve shear bolts, a monolithic section representing the column ange and a second monolithic section representing the beam ange. A typical analysis of this model on a Pentium II - 450 MHz computer took approximately 36 hours. The monolithic sections representing the column ange and beam ange were made up of C3D8, 8 node brick elements. The sections were modeled as rigid by giving them a linear elastic material response with a modulus of elasticity 10 times that of steel. Both sections were fully restrained on their face opposite to the face in contact with T-stub base material. The bolts were made up of an inner core of C3D15, 15 node wedge elements with outer layers of C3D20, 20 node brick elements. The shanks of the bolts were modeled as prismatic, having a diameter equal to the nominal bolt diameter of 22 mm. The heads of the bolts were modeled as solid disks, having a constant thickness approximately equal to the average thickness of the actual bolt head. The disk model was chosen to represent the button heads of the tension control bolts that were used in the experimental program instead of using a hex head bolt model. The disks were made up of an inner core of 15 node wedge elements with outer circles of 20 node brick elements arranged in two layers. A model of one of the tension bolts is shown in Figure 2. The bolt material properties of the bolt, shown in Table 1, was modeled after A490 bolt material and is fully non-linear. The boundary conditions that the

Fig. 1.

3D solid T-stub model.

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Fig. 2.

3D solid bolt model.

Table 1 A490 bolt material properties n (ksi) 0.00 85.00 120.00 140.00 150.00 n 0.00000 0.00293 0.01300 0.03000 0.08000 t (ksi) 0.00 85.25 121.56 144.20 162.00 t 0.00000 0.00293 0.01292 0.02956 0.07696 p a 0.00000 0.00001 0.00872 0.02459 0.07137

a Where n = nominal stress, n = nominal (engineering) strain, t = true stress, t = total true (logarithmic) strain, p = true (logarithmic) plastic strain

bolts were subjected to included full restraint of the free ends of the bolt shanks and contact interactions between the undersides of the bolt heads with base material of the T-stub surrounding the bolt holes. The shear bolts were given additional contact denitions between the surfaces of the bolt shanks and the interior of the bolt holes on the T-stem to allow for bearing contact. The T-stub base material was created from C3D20, 20 node brick elements and C3D15, 15 node wedge elements. The ange consisted of four layers of elements and the stem consisted of two layers of elements. Wedge elements were used in the K-zone region and along the tapered edge of the stem. Material characterization had not been completed at the time the model was generated. As a result, the material properties were modeled as typical A572 grade 50 and are shown in Table 2. The nodes of the T-stub section along the plane of symmetry were restrained in the direction normal to the plane and the T-stub was subjected to several contact interactions. Contact interactions were dened between:

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Table 2 T-stub base material properties (A572-50) n (ksi) 0.00 55.00 60.50 73.00 n 0.00000 0.00190 0.10000 0.23000 t (ksi) 0.00 55.10 66.55 89.79 t 0.00000 0.00190 0.09531 0.20701 p 0.00000 0.00000 0.09302 0.20392

the underside of the bolt heads and the T-stub base material surrounding the bolt holes, between the surfaces of the shear bolt shanks and the inner surfaces of the stem bolt holes, on the faying surface between the T-stem and the section representing the beam ange, between the back side of the T-stub ange and the section representing the column ange. A coefcient of friction of 0.33 was used on all contact interactions to represent AISC Class A surface conditions [6]. 3.1. Loading The model was loaded in two steps. The rst step was used to pretension the bolts while the second step was used to monotonically load the T-stub. The bolts were pre-tensioned by applying support displacements to the restrained ends of the bolt shanks. The prescribed bolt displacements were calculated assuming that the bolts remained elastic with a target pretension of 218 kN (49 kips). The bolt displacements caused the heads of the bolts to come into contact with the T-stub base material surrounding the bolt holes, which in turn caused the back side of the T-stub ange to come into contact with the column ange section and the faying surface of the T-stem to come into contact with the beam ange section. Because the T-stub base material was restrained only on the plane of symmetry, the ABAQUS solver encountered convergence problems stemming from perceived rigid body motion. To overcome this, the nodes along the edges of the T-stub ange that were in initial contact with the column ange were restrained for the duration of the bolt pre-tensioning load step. The second load step was used to apply a monotonic load to the T-stub. The load was applied by imposing support displacements to the beam ange section and the shear bolts. Friction on the faying surface between the T-stem and beam ange was the main mechanism of force transfer until the slip load was reached. After overcoming the slip load, sliding between the beam ange and T-stem occurred until the shanks of shear bolts came into contact with the inner surface of the holes in the base material of the T-stem.

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3.2. Results The model predicted a tension bolt fracture at an applied load of 1164 kN (261.7 kips). This is slightly larger than the experimental failure load of 1044 kN (234.7 kips). The difference is easily explained, though, by considering the tension bolt cross section. By modeling the shanks of the tension bolts as prismatic shafts, the reduced area of the threaded portion of the bolt has been neglected. The effective area of a 22 mm diameter bolt is 298.1 mm2 while the nominal area is 387.7 mm2. A second source of error was the ultimate strength of the bolt material. A strength of 1034 MPa (150.0 ksi) was used in the model but the actual strength was later found to be 1143 MPa (165.8 ksi). Corrections for the effects of these two discrepancies can be applied to the predicted strength as (1164.1 kN)

298.1 mm2 1143 MPa 989.4 kN. 387.7 mm 1034 MPa

(1)

Applying this correction leads to a difference of approximately 5% between the experimental and analytical results. A third source of error that can not be easily accounted for resulted from the material properties that were used in the T-stub base material. Coupon testing showed that the actual yield stress of the T-stub material was 317.8 MPa (46.1 ksi) for the ange and 352.3 MPa (51.1 ksi) for the stem. A nominal value of 379.2 MPa (55.0 ksi) was used for the yield stress in the model. Figures 3 through 6 show comparisons of the models load-deformation response with the experimental results for several deformation components. The general response of the various mechanisms agree well with the experimental data. Some discrepancies can be observed in the ange deformation and slip response compari-

Fig. 3.

Overall force/deformation response of T-stub TA-20.

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Fig. 4.

Slip characteristics of T-stub TA-20.

Fig. 5. Stem deformation characteristics of T-stub TA-20.

sons, though. The discrepancies in the load-deformation response of the ange is likely due to the overestimation of the yield strength of the ange. The difference in the slip behavior could be due to a number of factors including inaccurate modeling of the shear bolt pretension and inaccurate modeling of the coefcient of friction on the faying surface. Figure 7 shows a comparison of analytical and experimental values of the tension bolt force as a function of the load applied to the T-stub.

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Fig. 6.

Flange uplift behavior of T-stub TA-20.

Fig. 7.

Tension bolt prying response of T-stub TA-20.

The level of prying predicted by the model is slightly lower than that observed in the experiment. No attempt to modify the model to account for the reduced area of the bolts or material differences was made because the model was deemed too computationally demanding to be practical.

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3.3. Observations Several general observations from the solid model provided valuable, qualitative information about the T-stubs behavior. The rst was the realization that bending effects in the tension bolts can act to reduce their axial strength. Figure 8 shows a contour of the plastic strain present in one of the tension bolts at ultimate. The deformations in the gure are magnied by a factor of ve. The gure shows a clear concentration of stress on the upper edge of the bolt due to bending, which can act to reduce the bolts tensile capacity. Figure 9 shows the yielding present in the ange of the model at failure. Although there is a limited amount of yielding in the ange near the K zone, a plastic hinge has not yet formed and the ange is far from forming a well-dened mechanism. Figure 10 shows the contact pressure between the column ange and T-stub ange at ultimate. The gure shows that only the regions of the T-stub ange directly exterior to the tension bolts are in contact. For this to be possible, two-dimensional bending must be present in the ange of the T-stub. Further investigation yielded the results shown in Figure 11, which shows the uplift of the T-stub ange along the bolt line (line AA) just before failure. From these observations, it can be concluded that larger tension bolts, or a greater number of the same size or smaller tension bolts, are required to fully develop the full strength of the ange of the Tstub model. 4. Two-dimensional ange model Following the realization that the 3D solid model was not practical for parametric investigations, a 2D model was developed to focus on the behavior of the T-stub

Fig. 8. Plastic strain and bending of a tension bolt (displacement 5).

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Fig. 9.

Yielding in the ange of the TA-20 model at failure.

Fig. 10. Contact pressure between the column ange and T-stub ange at ultimate.

ange. A simple preprocessor was developed using Visual BASIC to efciently generate models based on simple geometric input. Like the 3D model, the 2D ange models take advantage of symmetry by using half models and were broken into separate parts that interact via contact denitions. A 2D ange model of T-stub TA07 is shown in Figure 12. Each model was separated into the base material of the T-stub ange, a section used to represent the column ange, and two beam elements that were used to model the tension bolts.

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Fig. 11. Bolt line (AA) deection of the T-stub ange at ultimate.

Fig. 12.

2D T-stub ange model.

The T-stub ange was generated from CPE8R, 8 node bi-quadrilateral plain strain square elements employing a reduced integration scheme. CPE6, 6 node bi-quadrilateral plain strain triangular elements were used to model the K zone. The material characteristics were modeled as non-linear and varied from model to model as required. Since the model represents a unit width of the actual ange, the area of the bolt elements was reduced to represent the total bolt area smeared across the actual width of the T-stub. Additionally, the thickness of the elements near the bolt holes was reduced to account for the material lost to drilling. The ange was restrained along its right edge in the direction normal to the line symmetry and a

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contact interaction was established between the bottom of the ange and the top of the column section. The section used to represent the column ange was made up of CPE4, 4 node bilinear plane strain elements. The column ange section was modeled as rigid by dening the material properties as linear elastic with a modulus of elasticity equal to 10 times that of steel. The column ange section was fully restrained along its bottom edge. The bolts were modeled as two circular beam elements arranged end-to-end and were restrained at the lower node. The upper end was connected to the appropriate node along the top edge of the T-stub ange. Two elements were used in an attempt to capture the behavior of both the bolt shank and the reduced area of the threads. To capture the inuence of the bolt head stiffness on the ange, a constraint equation was used to require the nodes along the top edge of the ange within the diameter of the bolt head to deform in a straight line. The bolt material was dened as fully non-linear and the length of the bolt was kept consistent with those used in the experiment to accurately model its stiffness characteristics. Because the beam elements were connected as pins at the upper and lower ends of the bolt, bending of the bolt was not included in the model. 4.1. Loading The 2D ange models were loaded in two steps similar to the way that the 3D model was loaded. During the rst step, the restrained end of the lower bolt element was subjected to a prescribed support displacement that closed the contact elements between the bottom of the T-stub ange and the top of the column section, and created the required pretension in the bolt. During the second step, a concentrated load was applied to the center node of the K zone as shown in Figure 13. To avoid a stress concentration due to applying the load at a single node, a second constraint

Fig. 13.

Point load applied to ange model.

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equation was used to require that all nodes between points A and B in Figure 13 deform in a straight line. The magnitude of the load was made large enough so that failure of the tension bolt or ange would occur before the entire force could be applied. 4.2. Results Figure 14 shows a comparison of the analytical and experimental force-deformation responses for the ange of T-stub TA-07. The capacity obtained from the analysis was 2106 kN (473.5 kip) and the experimental capacity was 1931 kN (434.0 kip). Although the prediction is slightly high, the general behaviors depicted by the curves match quite well. The difference can be attributed to bending in the tension bolts, which is not included in the 2D ange model. Figure 15 shows a comparison of predicted and actual bolt forces for T-stub TA-07. The dashed line in the gure represents a bolt force with zero pretension and no prying. The model over-predicted the bolt forces in the latter stages of the simulation where bending was likely to be signicant. Another consideration is random variability in the experimental results. T-stub TA-03, which was identical to TA-07 except that it was tested cyclically, failed at a load of 2007 kN (451.1 kips), which was much closer to the analytical prediction. Ultimate ange deformation is not predicted by the model. A contour of the plastic strains at ultimate is shown in Figure 16. A well-dened plastic hinge has developed in the K zone region of the ange and a signicant amount of yielding has developed near the bolt line. Despite the severe ange yielding, the failure was governed by bolt strength. Figure 17 shows a contour of the plastic strain in a T-stub ange that is similar to that shown in Figure 16. The only difference between the two anges is that the thickness has been reduced from 25

Fig. 14.

Analytical and experimental force/ange uplift for T-stub TA-07.

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Fig. 15.

Analytical and experimental bolt forces for T-stub TA-07.

Fig. 16. Contour of plastic strain for the model of T-stub TA-07.

mm to 16 mm. A more well-dened ange mechanism has developed in the thinner ange than in the thick ange. Both contours were plotted with a displacement magnitude factor of one.

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Fig. 17.

Contour of plastic strain in a thin T-stub ange.

4.3. Observations It was noticed during the investigation that the level of pretension present in the bolts greatly inuenced the initial response of the ange. Figure 18 shows response curves for the ange of TA-07 with bolt pretensions of 45, 133, and 222 kN (10, 30 and 50 kip). The inuence of the level of pretension on the individual bolt response is

Fig. 18.

Effect of Varying bolt pretension on ange deformation behavior.

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illustrated in Figure 19. Although the initial behavior of the T-stub is affected substantially, the ange capacity and post-yield stiffness appear to be independent of the pretension. A second observation of the 2D ange model behavior was a variation in pressure distribution between the T-stub ange and column ange. The pressure distribution of the thick ange was concentrated at the tip of the ange as would be expected. The distribution of the thin ange, though, was concentrated just to the outside of the tension bolt and was not evenly distributed as might be expected. In fact, the tip of the ange actually lifted up and separated from the column ange. The contact pressure distribution of a T-stub ange of average thickness was focused at a point midway between the outside of the tension bolt and the ange tip.

5. Conclusions Several conclusions can be drawn based on the results of the nite element analyses. A full 3D solid model incorporating contact and non-linear material properties can be used to accurately model T-stub behavior if sufcient development time and computational resources are available. The model that was presented successfully modeled contact between the column ange and T-stub, contact between the beam ange and T-stub including friction on the faying surface, contact between the bolt heads and T-stub, bearing contact between the shear bolts and the bolt holes, and non-linear material characteristics of the T-stub base material and fasteners.

Fig. 19.

Effect of bolt pretension on bolt response.

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Inadvertent bending of tension bolts during ange prying can reduce their axial capacity. Multi-directional plate bending is present in the anges of the four-bolt T-stubs. Four tension bolts were not sufcient to fully develop a mechanism in the thicker anges modeled. Pressure distributions between the T-stub ange and column ange are complex and are inuenced by ange thickness and tension bolt location. T-stub ange deformation models are sensitive to tension bolt pretension. The ange strength, however, is not greatly effected by the tension bolt pretension. Force distribution from the stem into the ange is approximately uniform across the width of the T-stub.

Acknowledgements The experimental data used for this research was generated as part of an SAC research project (SAC Task 7.03) under the sponsorship of FEMA. The analytical work was funded by the Mid-America Earthquake (MAE) Center as part of the work under Task ST7. This project was supported in part by the Earthquake Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation under Award Number EEC-9701785.

References
[1] Federal Emergency Management Association 288. Background reports: metallurgy, fracture mechanics, welding, moment connections and frame systems behavior. FEMA Publication No. 288, Federal Emergency Management Association, Washington (DC): March, 1997. [2] Swanson JA, Leon RT. Bolted steel connections: tests on T-stub components. J Struc Engrg ASCE 2000;126(1):506. [3] Swanson JA, Leon RT. Stiffness modeling of bolted T-stub connection components. J Struc Engrg ASCE 2001;127(5):498505. [4] Swanson JA. Characterization of the strength, stiffness, and ductility behavior of T-stub connection. PhD Dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999. [5] Kokan D. Finite element modeling of T-stub connections, Internal Document, Masters Degree Special Research Problem. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1998. [6] American Institute of Steel Construction. Load and resistance factor design. 2nd ed. American Institute of Steel Construction, Chicago (IL): 1993.