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Structural Performance of Bolted Connectors in

Retrofitted Transmission Tower Leg Members

Conference Paper · September 2015

DOI: 10.1061/9780784479414.039

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3 authors, including:

Chenghao Lu Julie E. Mills

University of South Australia University of South Australia
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 Structural performance of bolted
connectors in retrofitted transmission
tower leg members
Chenghao Lu1, Xing Ma2, Julie E. Mills3
1
Chenghao Lu, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South
Australia Adelaide, SA, 5095, Australia. lucyc017@mymail.unisa.edu.au
2
Xing Ma, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia
Adelaide, SA, 5095, Australia. xing.ma@unisa.edu.au
3
Julie E. Mills, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South
Australia Adelaide, SA, 5095, Australia. julie.mills@unisa.edu.au

ABSTRACT

Upgrading aging transmission towers to meet the requirements of increased

loads due to additional equipment and updated loading standards has attracted interest
from researchers and engineers throughout the world. Retrofitting of tower leg
members by adding parallel reinforcing members has been verified as an effective way
to increase structural load-carrying capacity. The structural performance of the
connector between reinforcing members and main members is the controlling factor in
this kind of retrofitting design. In this paper, the static structural performance of bolted
cruciform/splice connections in reinforced leg members was reviewed and numerical
models were developed for dynamic analysis of the connections under cyclic loads
using ANSYS. The bolt pretension relaxation was simulated and its structural effect on
bolted cruciform/splice connections was studied. Results demonstrated that the bolt
pretension loss causes high initial stiffness degradation and this effect is more
influential on cruciform connections than splice connections.

Keywords — Steel angle; Transmission tower; Retrofitting; Splice; Connector;

Bolt-slip, Bolt pretension loss, Stiffness degradation

1. INTRODUCTION
Lattice transmission towers are an important infrastructure component for
electricity supply in Australia and around the world. Most lattice transmission towers
are constructed using equal angle (EA) steel members. To form structural elements,
equal angles are connected by single/multi-bolted connections and splice connections
(see Figure 1). In recent years, to address the updated loading standards and electricity
demand, cruciform connections (see Figure 2) have been applied on aging
transmission towers to retrofit critical leg members with reinforcing members.

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 Figure 1. Connection types Figure 2. Cruciform connection
In the specific research area of lattice transmission towers, the axial load
capacity of bolted splice connections under monotonic loads has been researched for
decades. The early experiments (Kulak et al. 1987) studied the load-displacement
behavior of butt-splice connectors and illustrated the relationship between the ‘slip
resistance’ and the influential factors such as bolt arrangements, bolt torques, material
surface properties and material strength. Based on this research, Ungkurapinan et al.
(2003) designed an experimental test on bolted connectors constructed by equal angle
steels and developed a theoretical load-displacement curve with bolt-slip features.
Then, this curve was applied in the study on failure analysis of lattice transmission
towers (Jiang et al. 2010; Jiang et al. 2011). The structural behaviors of bolted
cruciform connections were also studied in previous research. Experimental studies
(Tongkasame 2008; Zhuge et al. 2012) on the load-carrying capacity of retrofitted
transmission tower leg segments constructed with bolted cruciform connections
indicated that bolted cruciform connections provide a high load-sharing rate between
main and reinforcing members. The further experimental load-carrying capacity tests
(Mills et al. 2012) on retrofitted transmission towers concluded that the cruciform
connections have an adequate load-sharing capability in a tower system. In addition to
experimental studies, numerical studies have also been undertaken. Both 3D and
simplified methods can accurately simulate the structural behaviors of bolted
retrofitted leg segments (Lu et al. 2014a) through replacing splice and cruciform
connections by spring elements with properties generated by the previous
experimental bolted connection and numerical simulation (Lu et al. 2014b).
In this paper, the static structural performance of bolted cruciform and splice
connections was first reviewed. Based on the experimental data, numerical models for
dynamic analysis of both connections under cyclic loads have been developed in
ANSYS. The initial stiffness degradation behavior due to the pretension relaxation
phenomenon was analyzed through the numerical models.

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2. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS REVIEW OF CRUCIFORM AND SPLICE
CONNECTIONS UNDER MONOTONIC LOADS
Both cruciform and splice connections were constructed to study the ultimate
capacity and failure behavior under the static compressional loads. The loading pad of
testing machine continually applied displacement loads onto the main members with a
speed of 2 mm/sec. Once the visible failure was occur, tests were stopped. Three tests
(named as A, B ,C) are required for each connectional type for obtain an accurate
result. The material properties and assembly information are shown in Table 1.
Buckling failure was found in the side-cleats of cruciform connections and in the
top/bottom main member of splice connections, which verified that these connections
have a high load-transfer capacity between connected members (see Figure 3 and
Figure 4). In addition to the buckling failure, the side-cleats in cruciform connections
also slightly rotated due to the eccentric force introduced from the main members (see
Figure 3).

Table 1. Material properties and assembly information

Young`s modulus
Member Grade Torque (N.m) Poisson`s ratio
(MPa)

EA steel 300 205000 0.25

Bolts 8.8 M16 150 205000 0.25
Nominal yield Ultimate yield
Size/diameter (mm)
strength (MPa) strength (MPa)
EA steel 300 330 65×5
Bolts 660 800 16

In addition, the bolt holes and bolts were subjected to severe shearing damage.
Once connections were under the bearing stage (See Figure 5 and Figure 6), bolts
started to cut the steel members and resulted in significant deformation in the bolt hole
areas. At the same time the bolts were subjected to a serious deformation due to the
resistance from the bolt holes (See Figure 3 and Figure 4).

Figure 3. Failure mode of bolted cruciform connections and bolts

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 Figure 4. Failure mode of bolted splice connections and plates

The load-displacement curve (Figure 5 and Figure 6) indicates that the initial
stiffness of the cruciform connections was about 58 kN/mm, compared to 140 kN/mm
in the splice connections. The major bolt-slip in the cruciform connections occurred at
116 kN, corresponding to a vertical displacement of 2 mm, compared to 140 kN with a
1 mm displacement in the splice connections. Unlike the theoretical bolt-slip
phenomenon where the bolt-slip stage is expressed as a flat line (Ungkurapinan et al.
2003), the experimental bolt-slip stage of the cruciform/splice connections showed and
upward trend, where the vertical displacement increased with the applied loads but
with several random drop-off points. This phenomenon can be explained by the
assembly imperfection (e.g. some bolts touched the bolt holes). This resulted in a
combined mechanism of bolt-slip and vertical loading transformation. Finally, the
cruciform connections failed at 195 kN with a vertical displacement of 11 mm and 200
kN with a 7 mm displacement for the splice connections.

Figure 5. Load-displacement curve of Figure 6. Load-displacement curve of

cruciform connections splice connections

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3. NUMERICAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT OF CRUCIFORM AND SPLICE
CONNECTIONS UNDER CYCLIC LOADS
Due to environmental actions such as wind, transmission towers are more likely
to be subjected to cyclic-loads than static-loads. Hence, the static loading test and its
load-displacement curve can not fully express the structural behaviors for a life cycle
of such a connection in practice. In order to further study the structural behaviors of
bolted connections in cyclic-load conditions, quasi-static loading tests based on
numerical models were developed in this section.

3.1. General numerical model development

The specimens under cyclic loads were developed in the ANSYS computer
package. In contrast to the traditional modelling technique which models bolts and
steel plates as one component, in this paper, the clearance between bolt shanks and bolt
holes was incorporated into the numerical models to allow for the potential bolt-slip.
All numerical material properties and bolt torques were consistent with the previous
static loading test (see Table 1). Due to the small scale of the cyclic loads considered,
the degradation of material properties was not included in these numerical models. In
addition, the ‘transient structural’ analysis solver (ANSYS 2013) was adopted due to
the cyclic loading pattern.
The cruciform and splice bolted connections were modeled using the ‘SOLID
185’ element (ANSYS 2013) to consider non-linear behavior such as large
deformation, displacement and buckling failure. In order to develop a clamping
mechanism, there are several pre-operations that need to be conducted in ANSYS. The
first step is to transfer the applied torque to the bolt-pretension load. The practical
function of T=0.2FD was used to transfer the 150 N.m torque to the corresponding
47.85 kN pretension load, which was directly applied on the bolt shanks (see Figure 7)
(ANSYS 2013). The ‘F’ is the proposed pretension load, ‘T’ is the applied torque value
in experimental tests and ‘D’ is the bolt diameter. This pretension load develops
clamping forces on the bolt caps.
In order to transfer the clamping forces onto the members` surfaces extra
treatments are required on the contact surfaces, which include the definition of three
contact-pairs and two interaction properties. As shown in Figure 8 to Figure 10, the
three contact pairs were the bolt caps and steel member surfaces, the main member
surfaces and reinforcing member surfaces, and the bolt shanks and bolt holes. These
contact surfaces were assigned as ‘CONTA 174’ and ‘TARGE 170’ based on material
properties and meshing size. In addition, an ‘Asymmetric’ contact behavior was
assigned onto these contact pairs to obtain more accurate contact stresses distribution
and avoid the potential penetration phenomenon (ANSYS 2013).
Once the loading was applied, potential sliding might occur on the steel
members whilst at the same time the steel member surfaces are subject to normal
compressional stresses from the clamping forces. In addition, if the sliding
displacement exceeds the pre-set clearance, the bolt shanks and bolt holes might be
subject to a further bearing phenomenon. Therefore, the normal and tangential
interaction properties were assigned onto these contact pairs. The tangential property

5
with a modified friction coefficient of 0.16 was applied onto these contact surfaces to
simulate the potential member sliding. The initial normal stiffness value of 1 was also
manually input as a basic factor to these contact surfaces to simulate the normal
contact and bearing phenomenon, which was upgraded in each interval due to the
nature of the transient analysis (ANSYS 2013). An elastic-slip factor of 0.05 was also
included in the numerical models. This factor was used to simulate the models
undergoing a slight vertical displacement in the initial loading stage caused by the
assembly imperfection. Finally, a ‘Pinball Region’ with a radius of 0.1×10-3 mm was
applied to carefully detect the contact region between the bolt shanks and plate holes
(ANSYS 2013).

Figure 7. Bolt pretension load Figure 8. Bolt caps to plates

Figure 9. Plates to Plates Figure 10. Bolt shanks to holes

In order to finalize the clamping mechanism, a ‘Nodal-Projected Normal From
Contract surface’ detection method was applied on all contact pairs, due to its relative
high convergence and time saving features. The bottom section was fixed in all
translation and rotation directions to replicate the laboratory condition and the top part
was constrained in all rotation directions and two horizontal translations, but was free
to move vertically.

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3.2. Specific setting for cyclic load conditions

The cyclic-load study was only focused on the structural behaviors before the
bolt-slip stage and the initial stiffness degradation of cruciform/splice connections
with the numerical bolt pretension loss condition. The reasons for this were: (1).
Compared to the designed capacity, most of the time, transmission towers work in a
relatively low member-stress condition to maintain a high structural safety. (2). The
Australian standard (AS 4100-1998) specifies that the occurrence of bolt-slip in bolted
connection structures during in-service conditions is not allowed. (3). In addition,
although the majority of research has been conducted to avoid the pretension loss
phenomenon, it is still impossible to maintain initial pretension loads during a whole
life-time.
Therefore, six groups of cyclic displacement loads (see Table 2) were
considered in the numerical models. The groups of 50%, 75%, and 95% bolt-slip
displacement were designed to study the pre-bolt-slip structural behaviors of
cruciform/splice connections. Due to the limitation of computer resources, only 25
cycles (see Figure 11) was considered in the numerical analysis. Based on the nature of
transient analysis in ANSYS, only one major analysis step was required, while it
contains 52 sub-steps (the 25 cycles plus the initial two sub-steps). The contact
properties were activated in the interaction module in the first sub-step, meanwhile, the
bolt pretension loads were smoothly applied in the same step and followed by a short
stabilizing period in the second sub-step. Then, the contact properties were propagated
in the remaining steps. In addition, an ‘interactive’ solve type was adopted to reduce
the time consumption whilst still reaching a high convergence behavior. Furthermore,
in order to reach a more accurate result, 50 intervals were assigned into each sub-step.
The displacement load was assigned onto the equal angle surfaces (see Figure 12).

Table 2. Properties of displacement loads

Applied displacement Percentage of bolt-slip
Frequency
Member Group. magnitude (mm) (see Figure displacement (%) (See
(Hz)
5 and Figure 6) Figure 5and Figure 6)
Cruciform 1 1 1.0 50
Connections 2 1 1.5 75
(Cru) 3 1 1.85 95
Splice 4 1 0.5 50
Connections 5 1 0.8 75
(Spl) 6 1 0.95 95

Figure 11. Example of cyclic displacement load for cruciform connections

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 Previous research (Ahmad et al. 1995; Heistermann 2011; Jensen et al. 2012;
Reuther et al. 2014) focusing on the bolt pretension loss phenomenon due to creep
have confirmed that the long-term loss is in the range from 5%-20% of the initial
pretension value, depending on the geometry, contact surfaces` properties, and
working conditions (e.g. temperature, vibration). In order to verify this phenomenon
due to the cyclic loading condition in transmission tower connections, extra bolt
pretension loss simulation was first conducted in the ANSYS models. The pretension
loss for cruciform connections (e.g. 25 numbers of cyclic displacement load with a
consistent magnitude of 1.5 mm ) was shown in Figure 13. A 1% loss of initial
pretension value occurred in the first cycle, increasing to 1.4% loss in the last cycle.
This means that the cyclic load is also a source of the pretension relaxation
phenomenon. Hence, in this part, an assumed 10% bolt pretension loss was considered
in the numerical models and was evenly applied onto the 25 cycles by using the
‘Defined by’ function in ANSYS (ANSYS 2013) to consider a long-term bolt
pretension loss phenomenon in cruciform and splice connections that would exist in
practice.

Figure 12. The loading surface

Figure 13. Example of bolt pretension loss for cruciform connections

8
4. NUMERCIAL STIFFNESS DEGRADATION OF CRUCIFORM AND
SPLICE CONNECTIONS
The intial stifness degradation results of the cruciform and splice connections
based on ANSYS numerical models are shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14. Stiffness degradation of splice/cruciform connections

Under the same bolt pretension loss condition, the stiffness degradation of
splice connections was more evenly distributed with the increment of displacement
loads and cycle numbers. With every 25% increment of displacement loads, the end
initial stiffness decreased by 5%. In cruciform connections, 50% and 75% of the
bolt-slip displacement loads resulted in a similar initial stifness degradation rate. Once
the displacement load increased to 95% of the bolt-slip displacement, the intial
stiffness degradation greatly increased to a final value of 16%. Its rate of decrease was
much more rapid than that of the splice connections. The main reason is that the high
displacement load introduced an eccentric load on the main member and caused high
local stress on the side-cleats (See Figure 15), which further resulted in a high stiffness
degradation rate on cruciform connections.

Figure 15. Stress distribution on side-cleats of cruciform connections

9
 Both cruciform and splice connections under 95% of the bolt-slip displacement
showed a sudden initial stiffness decrease in the first loading cycle and finished with a
linear decrease. The main reasons for this phenomenon are that: (1). The
coorespounding stiffness for 95 % slip-displacement load already showed a slightly
lower value than the lower displacement load. (see Figure 5 and Figure 6). (2).
Compared to the connections with lower displacement load, the local stresses on
side-cleats and top main members of both connections under large displacement load
were much higher in the first load cycle. (3). The material poperties and friction
coefficent reduction were limitated due to the lack of experimental results. As a result,
the initial stiffness decreased in the first loading cycle and maintained a linear decrease
in stiffness until the final loading cycle.

5. CONCLUSION
This paper presented the initial stiffness degradation behavior of cruciform and
splice connections on retrofitted leg members in transmission tower structures. The
ANSYS package was used to simulate the bolt pretension loss phenomenon and
develop numerical models.
Based on the previous static loading test and bolt pretension loss literature, the
different displacement load magnitude and a simulated bolt pretension loss magnitude
were applied onto the numerical models.
The study shows that:
(1). The ANSYS package and transient solver are capable of conducting the
cyclic-load simulation of bolted connections.
(2). The cyclic loads are a source of pretension loss and the magnitude of the
loss increases with the cycle numbers.
(3). Due to the loss of pretension loads, the initial stiffness of both cruciform
and splice connections decreased with the number of cycles and this reduction can not
be disregarded.
(4). Compared to splice connections, cruciform connections are more sensitive
to the displacement load magnitude and number of load cycles.
Hence, the unavoidable bolt pretension loss phenomenon has a significant
effect on the initial stiffness of both cruciform and splice connections. Increasing the
torque value or regularly re-torquing can enhance the structural behavior of both
connections. In addition, improving the structural behavior of the side cleats will
enhance the initial stiffness of cruciform connections.
Follow up work is now being undertaken on the experimental tests for material
property degradation, friction coefficient degradation and experimental bolt pretension
loss data under cyclic loads. These results will be re-applied onto the future numerical
models to upgrade the current models.

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