8.

1 Flange-plate joints

For flange joints, various investigations have been carried out, e.g. by Kato and Hirose (1984) and
Igarashi et al. (1985). Based on the work of Igarashi et al. (1985), recommendations are included in
the Japanese Recommendations for the Design and Fabrication of Tubular Truss Structures in
Steel (AIJ, 2002) which are given here in table 8.1.

Implicit in these joint details is an allowance for prying forces amounting to 1/3 of the total bolt force
at the ultimate limit state and the assumption that the tube yield strength must be developed. The
modes of failure assumed in determining these details are those due to plastification of flange
plates and not due to tensile failure of high strength bolts. The standard details shown in table 8.1
2
are for STK400 tubes (specified minimum fy = 235 N/mm and minimum ultimate tensile strength of
2 2
402 N/mm ), SS400 plates (specified minimum yield strength = 245 N/mm ) and F10T bolts (about
2
equal to Grade 10.9 bolts with a specified minimum ultimate tensile strength of 981 N/mm ).

Table 8.1 – Standard details for flange full strength joints

Maximum tube Thickness Nominal Minimum Edge Edge

dimensions of flange diameter number distance distance
di x ti plate tf of bolt of bolts e1 e2
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)

60.5 x 3.2
through 12 16 4 35 25
89.1 x 3.2
89.1 x 4.2
through 16 16 4 35 25
101.6 x 3.5
114.3 x 3.5 16 20 4 40 30
139.8 x 4.0
16 20 6 40 30
165.2 x 4.0
114.3 x 6.0
19 20 6 40 30
139.8 x 5.0
165.2 x 5.0 19 20 8 40 30
190.7 x 5.3
through 22 22 8 40 35
216.3 x 5.8
216.3 x 8.2 25 22 12 40 35
267.4 x 6.0 25 22 10 40 35
267.4 x 6.6 28 22 10 40 35
267.4 x 9.3 28 22 16 40 35
318.5 x 6.0 25 24 10 45 40
318.5 x 7.9 28 24 14 45 40
318.5 x 10.3 28 24 18 45 40
355.6 x 6.4 28 24 10 45 40
355.6 x 9.5 32 24 18 45 40
406.4 x 6.4 28 24 16 45 40
406.4 x 9.5 32 24 22 45 40
406.4 x 12.7 36 24 26 45 40
457.2 x 6.4 28 24 16 45 40
457.2 x 9.5 32 24 22 45 40
457.2 x 12.7 36 24 32 45 40

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According to Igarashi et al. (1985), the flange plate thickness t f can be determined from:

2Ni JM
tf 8.1
fyp S f3

where:
Ni = tensile member force
fyp = yield strength of plate
γM = 1.1 (partial safety factor)
f3 = dimensionless factor to be obtained from figure 8.5
tf = thickness of flange plate

Figure 8.5 – Parameter f3 for use in equations 8.1 and 8.2 for the design of CHS flange plate joints

The dimension e1 (see table 8.1) should be kept as low as possible to minimize prying action
(around 1.5d to 2d with d = bolt diameter), but the clearance between the nut and the weld should
be at least 5 mm.

The number of bolts n can be determined from:

ª 1 1 º
Ni «1   »
¬ f3 f3 ln r1/r2 ¼
n t JM 8.2
0.67 Tu

where
f3 = dimensionless factor to be obtained from figure 8.5
Tu = ultimate tensile resistance of a bolt
r1 = 0.5di + 2e1
r2 = 0.5di + e1

For other variables, see equation 8.1.

63