A study on block shear failure of steel bolted fin plate connections

Abstract

Consulta en la Biblioteca ETSI Industriales (7567)

[EN] Block shear is known to be a potential failure mode in bolted connections, such as shear connections at the ends of coped beams, tension-member connections, angles and gusset plates. Block shear failure commonly refers to the tearing of a block of material, and it is assumed to be a combination of tension rupture and shear yield, or a combination of shear rupture and tension yield. While the first failure mode is quite common, the latter failure mode is not very common because of the small ductility in tension as compared with shear. Block shear failure is usually associated with bolted details because a reduced area is present in that case, but in principle it can also be present in welded details. There are several ways in which a bolted connection can fail, but block shear often controls the design of relatively compact connections fastened with high-strength bolts. High-strength bolts are widely used for connecting structural steel elements in a variety of applications, including tension-member end connections and coped-beam simple connections. Due to their strength, a small number of bolts is needed for a given connection, and the area bounded by these fasteners is relatively small. As a result, bolted connections can exhibit block shear, wherein a `block¿ of the connected element is partially driven from the rest of the element. This mechanism is shown in the next figure: in response to the bearing forces at each bolt, the block develops a tension plane at the innermost bolt hole perpendicular to the load line, and a shear plane along the bolt line. Typically, block shear failure occurs through rupture of the net tension plane with inelastic shear deformations along the shear plane. Block shear