Bolted connections in thin sheet and cold-formed steel members

Author(s)

Carlos Henrique Maiola

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD)
• Defense date: 2004-06-29

Examining board members

Maximiliano Malite; Eduardo de Miranda Batista; Antonio Alves Dias; Julio Fruchtengarten; Roberto Martins Gonçalves

• Advisor: Maximiliano Malite

Abstract

The growing demand for cold-formed steel members of steel structures in Brazil, allied to the obsolescence of the brazilian NB-143:1967 standard, led to the need for a new brazilian code for the \'Design of Cold-formed Steel Structural Members\', the NBR14762:2001 standard. This new standard contains expressions adapted from the american AISI:1996 code for the design of connections. The adaptations were included with the purpose of simplifying the calculation and were determined merely for theoretical adjustments; hence, they lack a more careful investigation. It has thus become a matter of priority to study the connections in thin sheets and cold-formed members to evaluate the proposed expressions. The work reported on here therefore analyzed the structural behavior of bolted connections in thin sheets and cold-formed members based on theoretical and experimental analyses of test specimens, which were defined in order to obtain the various failure modes, particularly on sheet tearing in the net section. Based on the experimental results, suggestions are made for modifications in the expressions of the reduction coefficient of the net area Ct, applied in evaluations of the tensile strength of the effective net section. It is expected that the results of this research will contribute to future editions of the new brazilian code, supplying inputs for use in future revisions. (AU)