Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H.

Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

Nominal strength of tension member:

 A ductile steel member without holes and subjected to a tensile load can
resist without fracture a load larger than its gross-sectional area times its
yielding stress.
 If, on the other hand, we have a tension member with bolt holes, it can
possibly fail by fracture at the net section through the hole. This failure load
may very well be smaller than the load required to yield the gross-section,
apart from the hole.
 As a result of the preceding information, the AISC specification D2 states
that the nominal strength of a section of a tension member, Pn, is to be the
smaller of the values obtained by substituting into the following two
expressions:
1. For the limit state of yielding in the gross-section (which is needed to
prevent excessive elongation of the member)

𝑃𝑛 = 𝐹𝑦 𝐴𝑔 (𝐴𝐼𝑆𝐶 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐷2 − 1)
∅𝑡 𝑃𝑛 = ∅𝑡 𝐹𝑦 𝐴𝑔 = 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑦 𝐿𝑅𝐹𝐷 (∅𝑡 = 0.9)
2. For tensile rupture in the net section, as where bolt or rivet holes are present
𝑃𝑛 = 𝐹𝑢 𝐴𝑒 (𝐴𝐼𝑆𝐶 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐷2 − 2)
∅𝑡 𝑃𝑛 = ∅𝑡 𝐹𝑢 𝐴𝑒 = 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑦 𝐿𝑅𝐹𝐷 (∅𝑡 = 0.75)
𝐴𝑔 = 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛2
𝐴𝑒 = 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎, 𝑖𝑛2
𝐹𝑦 = 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑘𝑠𝑖
𝐹𝑢 = 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ, 𝑘𝑠𝑖
 Values of 𝐹𝑦 and 𝐹𝑢 are provided in table 2-4 in the AISC manual for the
ASTM structural steels on the market today

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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

Gross and net area determination:

 Gross area: the gross area of a member is the total cross-sectional area.
 Net area: the net area of a member is the products of the thickness and the
net width of each element computed as follows:
1. In computing net area for tension and shear, the width of a bolt hole shall be
taken as 1/16 in greater than nominal dimension of the hole (or the width of
the bolt hole = the value from table J3.3 + 1/16).
2. For a chain of holes extending across a part in any diagonal or zigzag line,
the net width of the part shall be obtained by deducting from gross width the
sum of the diameters or slot dimensions of all holes in the chain and adding,
for each gage space in the chain, the quantity

𝑆2
4𝑔

S = longitudinal center to center spacing (pitch) of any two consecutive holes, in.

g = transverse center to center spacing (gage) between fastener gage line, in.

3. In determining the net area across plug or slot welds, the weld metal shall
not be considered as adding to the net area.
4. Section J4.1 (b) limits An to a maximum of 0.85 Ag for splice plates.

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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

Example 1:
Determine the net area of the (3/8 x 8- in) plate shown in the figure below
the plate is connected at its end with two lines of (3/4 – in) standard bolts.

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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

Example 2:
Determine the critical net area of the (1/2 in) thick plate shown in the figure below.
The standard holes are punched for (3/4 in) bolts.

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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

Example 3:
Determine the net area of the W12x16 shown in the figure below. Assume
that the standard holes are for 1 in bolts.

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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

Example 4:
Determine the net area along route ABCDEF for the C 15x33.9 shown in the
figure below. Assume that the standard holes are for ¾ in bolts.

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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

Effective net area:

 When a member other than a flat plate or bar is loaded in axial tension until
failure occurs across its net section, its actual tensile failure stress will
probably be less that the tensile strength of the steel, unless all of the
various elements which make up the section are connected so that stress is
transferred uniformly across the section

 If the forces are not transferred uniformly across a member cross section,
there will be a transition region of uneven stress running from the
connection out into the member for some distance. An angle section having
connection to one leg only is an example of such a case

 To account for the non-uniformity, the effective net area of tension member
shall be determined

 𝐴𝑒 = 𝐴𝑛 𝑈 (𝐴𝐼𝑆𝐶 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐷3 − 1)
U = the shear leg factor, is determined as shown in table D3.1
 The above equation logically applies for both fastener connections having
holes and for welded connections

 For welded connections, the net area equals the gross area since there are no
holes

 Whenever the tensile load is transmitted by bolts, rivets, or welds through

some but not all of the cross-sectional elements of the members, the load
carrying efficiency is reduced and U will be less than (1)

 For bolted members:

1. The following equation can be used to estimate the shear leg factor or
reduction coefficient U
_
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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

𝑥
𝑈 =1−
𝐿

_
χ = distance from the plain of the connection to the centroid of the area of the
whole section.
L = length between first and last bolts in the line. When there are two or more lines
of bolts, L is the length of the line with the maximum number of bolts.

2. In order to calculate U for W section connected by its flange only,

_ we will
assume that the section is split into two structural tees. Then the χ will be the
distance from the outside edge of the flange to the C.G. of the structural tee.

 For welded members: when tension loads are transferred by welds, the rules
from AISC table D3.1 that are to be used to determine values of A and U are
as follows

1. Should the load be transmitted only by longitudinal welds to other than a

plate member, or by longitudinal welds in combination with transverse
welds, A is to equal the gross area of the member Ag.

2. Should a tension load be transmitted only by transverse welds, A is to equal

the area of the directly connected elements U is to equal 1.0 (case 3 in Table
D3.1)

3. Test has shown that when flat plates bars connected by longitudinal fillet
welds are used as tension members, they may fail prematurely by shear lag
at the corners if the welds are too far apart. Therefore, the AISC
specifications state that when such situations are encountered, the length of
the welds may not be less than the width of the plates or bars. The letter A

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Middle Technical University-Baghdad Dr. Zainab H. Mahdi
Building and Construction Dept.

represents the area of the plate, and UA is the effective net area. For such
situations the value of U to be used (case 4 in table D3.1) are as follows:

When 1 ≥ 2𝑤(𝑈 = 1.0)

When 2𝑤 ≥ 1 ≥ 1.5𝑤(𝑈 = 0.87)
When 1.5𝑤 ≥ 1 ≥ 𝑤(𝑈 = 0.75)