Advanced Design of St eel and

Concret e Composit e St ruct ures

Conf. dr. i ng Adri an CI UTI NA
Universitatea Politehnica Timioara
Facultatea de Construcii
Departamentul de Construcii Metalice i Mecanica Construciilor
- CURS 8 -
Composit e Connect ions ( 2)
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Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
4.5 Det erminat ion of mechanical
charact erist ics of connect ions
The Eurocode 3, part 1-8 is the only norm that allows the analytical
computation of semi-rigid and/or partial resistant connection
characteristics for steel structures.
Similarly, the Eurocode 4 allows the computation of composite semi-
rigid joints, these being used preponderantly in overtaking the vertical
charges of braced frames.
Both norms are based on component method, that considers the
connections as an assembly of individual components. It is assumed
that each of these components works as a spring, each having its
behaviour law.
The components are then associated in series or in parallel, following
the geometrical configuration of the connection, complying with some
deformability compatibilities.
This association leads to a characteristic global connection behaviour
expressed in terms of the moment-rotation curve.
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
4.5 Det erminat ion of mechanical
charact erist ics of connect ions
A refined model applicable for the general case of composite
connections is presented in below figure:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8,9,10
11 12
13
1415
16
Obs: Any connection can be identified in principle as a particular case of this model.
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
4.5 Det erminat ion of mechanical
charact erist ics of connect ions
The main components of a connection (including their solicitations)
are:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8,9,10
11 12
13
1415
16
column web in transverse compression (1);
concrete encasement in transverse compression (2);
exterior column web in transverse compression (3);
effects of concrete encasement in compression (4);
beam or column flange and web in compression (5);
column web in transverse tension (6);
horizontal stiffeners (plate) in tension (7);
column flange in bending (8);
end-plate in bending (9);
bolts in tension (10);
reinforcement in transverse tension (11);
slip of composite beam due to incomplete interaction (12);
redistribution of unbalanced efforts (13);
steel web panel in shear (14);
steel web panel in bending (15);
concrete encasement in shear (16).
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
The design bending capacity M
j,Rd
of a composite connections with
bolted end-plate is found by the following formula:
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS

=
r
Rd tr r Rd j
F h M
, ,
h
h
h
F tr1
F tr2
t
2
t
1
t
a
Rd M
ta F
Figure: Principle of finding the
design bending capacity of a
composite connection with bolted
end-plate.
F
tr,Rd
represents the design
minimum resistance in tension
corresponding to bolt-row (or
reinforcement row) r;
h
r
represents the level arm
corresponding to tensioned row
r.
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
The design resistance in traction for the reinforcement row is given by:
s sk s r Rd s tr
f A F /
, , ,
=
where:
A
r,s
represents the nominal area of the tensioned reinforcement row;
f
sk
is the characteristic tensile resistance of the reinforcement material;
and
s
is the partial safety factor for the reinforcement steel.
The design resistance in traction for a bolt-row is determined as the
minimum value among the following components:
steel column web in tension: F
t,wc,Rd
;
column flange in bending: F
t,fc,Rd
;
end-plate in bending: F
t,ep,Rd
;
beam web in tension: F
t,wc,Rd
.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
The design tension resistance of the column web is given by:
where:
t
wc
represents the nominal thickness of the column web;
b
eff,t,wc
effective width of column web working in tension (computed
according to 6.2.4.3 (2) of Eurocode 3, part 1.8);
f
y,w
column web yield strength;
reduction factor that account for possible shear effects present in the
column web;

M0
partial safety factor for steel.
0
, , ,
, ,
M
wc y wc wc t eff
Rd wc t
f t b
F

=
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
For the column flange or the end-plate subjected to bending, the
tensile resistance of a bolt-row is computed as the minimum value
between three different failure modes computed for an isolated T-stub
element, considered representative for each individual bolt-row
(according to 6.2.2 from Eurocode 3, part 1.8). The possible failure
modes are:
failure mode 1, corresponding to plastic yield lines of the column flange (or
end-plate) alone in bending:
m
M
F
Rd pl
Rd T
, 1
, 1 ,
4
=
failure mode 2, corresponding to combined plastification of column flange
(or end-plate) in bending and failure of the bolts in tension:
n m
B n M
F
Rd t Rd pl
Rd T
+
+
=
, , 2
, 2 ,
2
failure mode 3, corresponding to failure of bolts in tension:

=
Rd t Rd T
B F
, , 3 ,
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
In the above formulae:
B
t,Rd
represents the design resistance in tension for a single bolt;
m, n geometrical distances between bolt axis and column web,
respectively the exterior extremity of the steel profile;
M
pl1,Rd
design plastic resistance for the end-plate or the column flange,
computed for the first failure mode;
M
pl2,Rd
design plastic resistance for the end-plate or the column flange,
computed for the second failure mode:

=
0
2
) 2 ( 1 , ), 2 ( 1
/ 25 , 0
M y f eff Rd pl
f t l M
The sums of the effective lengths and correspond to yield
lines which depend on the geometrical dispositions of the bolts in the
global geometry of the connection.
1 , eff
l
2 , eff
l
Obs: The bolt-rows are considered as working alone or in a bolt-row group.
The final bolt-row resistance is the one that leads to the minimal resistance in tension for the most
unfavorable combination.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
The design resistance of the beam web in tension is given by:
where:
b
eff,t,wb
represents the effective length of the T-stub element used in the
design of end-plate in bending.
, , , , , 0
/
t wb Rd eff t wb wb y wb M
F b t f =
For a bolted composite connection with horizontal stiffeners on the
column web panel, the sum of resistances of tensioned rows computed
as above should be reduced, if necessary, in order to satisfy the following
conditions:
s /
, , Rd wp Rd t
V F

s
Rd fb c Rd t
F F
, , ,
where:
V
wp,Rd
is the design capacity of the column web panel working in shear;
F
c,fb,Rd
represents the design resistance of the compressed beam web
and flange working in compression (inferior part of the beam);
is a transformation parameter due to the shear of the web panel. It
considers the bending moments exerted at the extremities of the beams
attached in the joint.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
The value of the parameter is between 0 and 2 and can be
computed more precisely by the formula:
Sd b j Sd b j
M M
, 1 , , 2 ,
/ 1 =
where:
M
j,b1,Sd
and M
j,b2,Sd
are the values of the bending moment values exerted by
the connected beams (taken with their sign).
For external connections (in T or one-sided), or for an internal
connection with identical beam heights, the design shear resistance of
the column web panel V
wp,Rd
is given by:
Rd c wp
s
Rd fc pl
M
vc y
Rd wp
V
d
M A f
V
, ,
, ,
0
,
4
3
9 , 0
+ + =

unde:
0,9 is a coefficient that accounts the axial force present in the column;
A
vc
represents the shear area of the column web panel;
M
pl,fc,Rd
is the plastic bending resistance of a stiffener;
d
s
represents the axis-to-axis distance between the stiffeners.
Obs: the second term from the formula accounts for additional shear resistance given by the
bending of stiffeners located in the shear zone, while the third V
wp,c,Rd
corresponds to the design
shear resistance when the steel web is encased in concrete.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
The design resistance of beam flange and adjacent web in
compression is supposed to be concentrated at the level of the
compression centre of the flange and can be computed by sufficient
precision by the following formula:
unde:
M
c,Rd
represents the design bending resistance of the beam,
h is the beam height,
t
fb
is the beam flange thickness.
fb
Rd c
Rd fb c
t h
M
F

=
,
, ,
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
CAPACI TY OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
Eurocode 3 Part 1.8 incorporates an alternative method for
calculating the stiffness of bare steel connections. This method uses the
component approach in which the rotational response of the joint is
determined from the mechanical properties of the different components:
end-plate, cleat, column flange, bolts, etc. within the connection.
The advantage of this approach is that the behaviour of any joint can
be calculated by decomposing the connection into its components (end-
plate, cleat, column flange, bolts etc).
The procedure is to derive the rotational stiffness of a connection from
the elastic stiffnesses of its component parts. The elastic stiffness of
each component is represented by a spring with a force-deformation
relationship:
Where:
- F
i
is the force in component i; - E is the elastic modulus of steel;
- k
i
is the stiffness of component i; - w
i
is the spring deformation of
component i.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
STI FFNESS OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
These components are
added together using a
simple spring model. The
method is best illustrated
by a simple example. The
figure right shows a simple
model for an end-plate
connection.
In this example the stiffness of the connection can be determined
from the stiffness of the following components:
Unstiffened column web panel in shear (k
1
)
Unstiffened column web in compression (k
2
)
Column web in tension (k
3
)
Column flange in bending (k
4
)
End plate in bending (k
5
)
Bolts in tension (k
10
)
Reinforcement in tension (k
13
)
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
STI FFNESS OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
For a composite connection, the initial stiffness, computed according
to the Eurocode 4 could be determined by combining the individual
stiffnesses of the components. Considering that the axial force in the
beam is less than 10% of the axial plastic capacity, the initial stiffness
S
j,ini
of the characteristic moment-rotation curve for a connection is given
by the formula:

=
i i
a
ini j
k
z E
S
1
2
,
where:
E
a
is the modulus of elasticity for steel;
k
i
is the stiffness coefficient associated to the basic component i of
the connection; and
z is the level arm computed in function of the component
characteristics subjected to tension and considering the compression
centre at the level of the bottom beam flange.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
STI FFNESS OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
For external connections (in T or one-sided), or for an internal
connection with identical beam heights, the stiffness coefficient
corresponding to the column web panel in shear k
1
is computed by:
z
h b
E
E
z
A
k
c c
a
cm vc

06 , 0
38 , 0
1
+ =
The first term corresponds to the shear of the steel web panel.
The second term of the formula takes into consideration the shear of
the concrete encasement in the case of a composite column.
E
cm
is the mean modulus of elasticity of the concrete;
b
c
and h
c
are the width and the height of the steel profile respectively.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
STI FFNESS OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
For each bolt-row working in tension, the stiffness coefficients of
various components in that row could be grouped (by considering their
action in series) in such a way to consider a single effective stiffness
coefficient for each bolt-row:

=
i
r i
r eff
k
k
,
,
1
1
where: k
i,r
are the stiffness coefficients of the individual components for
the row r working in traction.
For the case of reinforcement working in tension, it will be considered
a single stiffness coefficient, denoted by k
13
and computed by:
c
s r
h
A
k

,
13
=
where:
is a coefficient that accounts for the values of bending moments
exerted at the beam extremities on each side of the column (table A1 -
Annex A);
A
rs
is the area of the reinforcement row r (within the effective width of
the concrete slab)
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
STI FFNESS OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
In a composite connection with horizontal stiffeners, for each bolt-row
working in tension, the following stiffness coefficients are combined for
finding the k
eff,r
:
the stiffness coefficient for the column web in tension:
(the effective width b
eff,c,wc
must be taken as the minimum effective
widths l
eff,cp
of the column web in tension considered individually or as
part of a bolt-row group)
the stiffness coefficient for the column web in bending:
the stiffness coefficient for the end-plate web in bending :
with t
p
the end-plate thickness
the stiffness coefficient for the bolts in tension:
A
s
is the nominal area of the bolt and L
s
is the length of the bolt shaft.
c
wc wc c eff
d
t b
k
, ,
3
7 , 0
=
3
3
, ,
4
85 , 0
m
t l
k
fc wc t eff
=
3
3
,
5
85 , 0
m
t l
k
p ep eff
=
b s
L A k / 6 , 1
11
=
Obs: The value for the effective width l
eff,ep
used for the end-plate is computed similarly to the
effective width l
eff,t,cp
used for the column flange, but considering the homologue dimensions of the
end-plate.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
STI FFNESS OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
In the case in which several bolt-rows are working in tension
simultaneously into a connection, the effective stiffnesses for all the
tensioned rows are grouped in parallel such that in the formula of the
initial stiffness is introduced a single equivalent stiffness coefficient k
eq
:
, eff r r
eq
eq
k h
k
z
=

The equivalent level arm z

eq
, used in the general formula of the
stiffness instead of z, is computed in function of the individual level arms
of the tensioned components z
i
by the formula:
where:
K
eff,r
is the effective stiffness of the tensioned bolt-row r;
h
r
is the distance between the compression centre and the tensioned
bolt-row r.

=
i i
i i
eq
z k
z k
z
2
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
STI FFNESS OF COMPOSI TE CONNECTI ONS
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
For a structural analysis the connection is generally modeled by a
simple rotational spring which is placed at the intersection of beam-to-
column axes.
Starting from the values of the bending resistance M
j,Rd
and initial
stiffness S
j,ini
computed as described above, the moment-rotation curve
of the connection could be deduced, as exemplified below:
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
MOMENT- ROTATI ON CURVE
Adrian Ciut ina, Advanced Design of St eel and Concret e Composit e
St ruct ures
For a fixed value of the bending moment
M
j,Sd
applied on the connection, inferior or
equal to that of the bending resistance M
j,Rd
,
the stiffness is given by:
ini j j
S S
,
=
Rd j Sd j
M M
, ,
3
2
s
for

ini j
j
S
S
,
=
for
Rd j Sd j Rd j
M M M
, , ,
3
2
s <
with
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
Rd j
Sd j
M
M
,
,
5 , 1
and = 2,7 for bolted
connections.
Obs: Unfortunately, current codes do not offer but limited information on the rotation capacity of
connections. For the connections of structures situated in seismic areas, the Eurocode 8-1, as well
as the norm P100/2006 provide that, if the connections are the dissipative elements within the
structure, the rotation capacity should be demonstrated by means of experimental testing.
4.5 Det erminat ion of charact erist ics
MOMENT- ROTATI ON CURVE