Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Tension strength and design method for thread-fixed one-side bolted

T-stub
Mei Liu a, Xulin Zhu a, Peijun Wang a,b,⇑, Wulan Tuoya a, Shuqing Hu b
a
Civil Engineering College of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province 250061, China
b
Zhongtong Steel Construction Institute, Liaocheng, Shandong Province 252000, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Failure modes and their corresponding tension strengths of thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub were
Received 27 April 2017 investigated experimentally and theoretically. The thread resistances of bolts fixed directly to plates were
Revised 30 July 2017 evaluated by experimental analysis. Except for the three failure modes described in the current Eurocode
Accepted 31 July 2017
3, two new failure modes and their corresponding design methods were proposed, which were (a) hole
thread failure and (b) T-stub flange yielding with hole thread failure. Influences of the bolt pre-tension
force, the thickness of T-stub flange, the existence of the standard nut, the screw depth of the bolt on
Keywords:
the failure mode and the ultimate tension strength were studied. The bolt pre-tension force had little
Bolted T-stub
One-side bolt
influence on the ultimate tension strength; however, it could improve the initial stiffness of the connec-
Thread hole tion. The ultimate tension strength and tension stiffness of the T-stub increased with the increase in
Ultimate tension strength flange thickness. For the T-stub with thin flange, the thread hole could also provide sufficient clamping
Design method force to ensure the bolted T-stub not fail by thread failure. The existence of the nut did not improve
the yield strength of the T-stub; however, it could prevent the separation of two T-stubs after flange
yielding, thus the ultimate tension strength was increased. It depended on the screw depth whether
the partially screwed bolt was failed by thread failure or bolt failure. Ultimate tension strengths of the
T-stub measured from tests were much higher than those calculated by design equations. And under
the design load, the bolted T-stub was still in elastic state, which demonstrated the applicable of the
thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In order to achieve rigid beam-column connection, a beam

Steel columns with closed section offered better structural per-
formances over open section members, particularly in terms of
section modulus-to-weight ratio. When filled with concrete, their
strength and stiffness could be greatly improved further. However,
these merits were not fully exploited due to the perceived difficul-
ties in connecting beams to the closed section column using bolted
end-plate.
When connecting an H-section beam to a tubular column using
standard bolts and nuts, a temporary hand hole needed to be
opened on the tubular wall to install nuts inside the column. The
temporary hole was then re-welded on site after the installation
of the bolts, which slowed down the construction efficiency and
brought in weld residual stress to the tubular column, as shown
in Fig. 1.
⇑ Corresponding author at: Civil Engineering College of Shandong University,
Jinan, Shandong Province 250061, China.
E-mail address: Pjwang@sdu.edu.cn (P. Wang).
could be bolted to the ring stiffener of a tubular column, as shown
in Fig. 2. However, the complex geometry of this joint caused trou-
ble both to manufacture and transportation.
The beam end-plate can also connect to tubular column through
a reversal channel [1–4]. For the bending moment resistance and
rotational stiffness of the connection was limited by the channel
web, the reversal channel connection was usually treated as pin
connection.
One-side bolt provided an alternative way to connect beam to
tubular column using end-plate, which could be inserted and tight-
ened from outside of tubular column. Currently, widely used one-
side bolts include Hollo-bolt, Extended Hollo-bolt, Ultra-Twist Bolt,
Molabolt, BOM fastener, Blind Bolt, Huck Bolt, Flow drill and Ajax
One-side, etc. [5,6].
Behaviors of the connection using one-side bolts introduced
above had been widely reported based on experiments and Finite
Element Model (FEM) simulations [7–9], especially for the Hollo-
bolt system developed by Lindapter International [10], because it
did not change traditional end-plate configuration and no extra

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2017.07.093
0141-0296/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933
Fig. 1. Temporary hole for installing nuts inside tubular column.
special tools was required for installation [11], as shown in Fig. 3.
Upon tightening the bolt head with appropriate torque, the
threaded cone flared the sleeves and clamped against the inner
surface of the tubular column, which was analogous to the clamp-
ing produced by the nut of standard bolt.
Available research results on the Hollo-bolt system included
ultimate strength [12], flexural stiffness [13–16], seismic perfor-
Fig. 2. Beam and tubular column connection through ring stiffening plates.
Fig. 3. Components and installation of Hollo-bolt.
919
mance [11,17,18], and fire performance [19,20]. However, the
Hollo-bolt diameter was usually less than M12, which could only
provide limited shear and tensile strength. Due to material plastic-
ity and interaction among different components, the behavior of
Hollo-bolt connection was inherently nonlinear. The applied bolt
pre-tension force might cause pre-mature failure of the sleeves
and tubular column [11], as shown in Fig. 4. The deformation of
Hollo-bolt could reduce the tensile and rotational stiffness of the
connection [15], as shown in Fig. 5. These shortcomings would
limit the application of Hollo-bolts.
Another kind of one-side bolt used threaded hole to replace the
nut. For tubular column with wall thinner than 12.5 mm, the
thread hole could be manufactured using flow-drilling technique
[21,22], which allowed a thread to be incorporated into relatively
thin plate by locally displacing the plate. The increased plate thick-
ness sufficiently permitted tapping a longer thread, as shown
Fig. 6. Experimental results concluded by France et al. [21] showed
that the beam-tubular column connection using flow-drill holes
was either pinned or partial rigid connections for simply designed
braced steel frames. Except for connections using flow-drill holes,
self-drilling screw connections were also investigated experimen-
tally and numerically, including joints in thin-walled aluminum
structures [23,24] and thin-walled steel structures [25–30]. Design
equation was proposed for calculating connection strength [28].
However, the flow-drill and self-drilling connections were all
applicable for thin steel plates only, for thicker plates, the thread
hole could only be drilled by the common drill, whose behavior
had been poorly investigated.
In the beam-column joints, the flange stiffness of a haunch [31],
the access hole, beam web attachment, and panel zone strength
could affect the resistance and the ductility of the connection
[32,33], and the high participation of panel zone shear strength
could increase the possibility of weld fracture in beam slotted-
web and decrease the maximum strength of the connection [32].
920 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933
Fig. 4. Beam-column angle connection using Hollo-bolt [11]
Fig. 5. End-plate beam-column connection using Hollo-bolt [15]
Fig. 6. Flow drilling process [21]
Huber et al. [34] gave some guidelines on the modeling of beam-
to-column joints and pointed out that a uniform procedure should
be used as a basis for the development of new joint models as well
as checks on existing models, to recalibrate them if necessary. The
existing models in Eurocode might underestimate behavior of
beam-column joints. Experimental results presented by Prinz
et al. [35] indicated that the EC3-1-8 method provided a conserva-
tive estimation of bolted beam-column connection strength for
connections having thick endplates and multiple bolts per row.
El-Khoriby et al. [36] established the simplified 2D finite element
models to study behavior of beam-to-column connections under
axial force and cyclic bending, and results had also shown that
the Eurocode method was overly conservative. The component
method had been widely recognized as a suitable tool for the pre-
diction of the mechanical response of beam-to-column steel joints.
Kozlowski [37] presented a comprehensive component method
analytical model for predicting the moment resistance, initial stiff-
ness and rotation capacity of the minor axis, composite, semi-rigid
joint based on the EN 1993 and EN 1994. The rotational behavior of
bolted extended end plate beam-to-column connections was eval-
uated based on the ‘‘equivalent T-stubs” through component
method and systematic analytical procedure for characterization
of the moment-rotation response of the T-stub joint was proposed
[38]. The component method had also been introduced to the alu-
minum structures. For example, Brando et al. [39] developed suit-
able formulations for predicting the strength of an aluminum
column web in tension using the component method.
The equivalent bolted T-stubs originally introduced by Zoete-
meijer [40] were regarded as the fundamental approach for model-
ing the tension zone of bolted end-plate. This simplified analytical
method had been adopted in Eurocode 3 [41]. The accurate predic-
tion of the bolted T-stub behavior is critical to the design of beam-
column end-plate connection.
In the bolted beam-column end-plate connection, the T-stub
models in tension could be used to model the design resistance
of the following basic components: column flange in bending,
end-plate in bending, flange cleat in bending and base plate in
bending under tension [41]. The ordinary T-stub model consisted
 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933 921

(a) Thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub model

(b) Thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub model with additional nuts

(c) Thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub model with partial screwed bolts
Fig. 7. Dimensions of studied T-stubs.

of three parts: two T-section elements and whose flanges symmet- both the flexural resistance of the T-stub flange and the tensile
rically connected to each other by standard bolts with nuts. In gen- strength of the standard bolts. Compared to other kinds of connec-
eral, the loading bearing capacity of this kind of joint depended on tions, in particular with those where bolts were stressed in shear,
922 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933

Table 1
Parameters of target T-stubs.

No. T-stubs specimens Screw depth

t/mm Bolt pre-tension force (P) kN With/Without nuts Full depth/partial depth
T06-70A 6 70 w F
T06-140A 140 w
T06-140 140 w/o
T08-70A 8 70 w F
T08-70 70 w/o
T08-140 140 w/o
T10-70A 10 70 w F
T10-70 70 w/o
T10-140 140 w/o
T12-70A 12 70 w F
T12-70 70 w/o
T12-140 140 w/o
T14-0 14 0 w/o F
T14-70 70 w/o
T14-140 140 w/o
T16-0 16 0 w/o F
T16-70 70 w/o
T16-140 140 w/o
T18-0 18 0 w/o F
T18-70 70 w/o
T18-140 140 w/o
T20-0 20 0 w/o F
T20-70 70 w/o
T20-140 140 w/o
T22-0 22 0 w/o F
T22-70 70 w/o
T22-140 140 w/o
T25-0 25 0 w/o F
T25-70 70 w/o
T25-140 140 w/o
T27-0 27 0 w/o F
T27-70 70 w/o
T27-140 140 w/o
T30-140P10 30 140 w/o P, with tc = 10 mm
T30-140P20 140 w/o P, with tc = 20 mm
T30-140F30 140 w/o F, with tc = 30 mm
Total 36

(a) Bolt shank (b) Thread dimensions

Fig. 8. Dimensions of bolt thread.

the T-stub provides a good performance in terms of ductility, due
to the yielding of the flange in bending, even though in combina-
tion with a relatively low stiffness, which was regarded as one of
the components contributing to the strength and deformation
capability of the whole joint [41,45].
Behaviors of the T-stub using standard bolts had been exten-
sively studied through experiments and simulations, including
behaviors of the steel T-stub [42–44] and the aluminum T-stub
[45–47]. And the existing Eurocode [41,48] also gave the corre-
sponding design method of the T-stub model. However, for lack
of full understanding of the potential failure mechanism of the hole
thread, the effects of T-stub plastic failure on the thread, the prying
force, etc, to the connection, current research results could not be
applied to the thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub connection
directly.
As an extension of the previous study on behaviors of thread-
fixed one-side bolted T-stub with backing plate [49], the tension
strength and behaviors of thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub
 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933 923

without backing plate were investigated experimentally and theo-

retically. The T-stub model was also chosen so as to clearly show
the failure mechanism of thread-fixed one-side bolted connection.
Except for the three failure modes presented in Eurocode 3 [41],
the thread resistances of bolts fixed directly to plates were evalu-
ated by experimental analysis, and two new failure modes were
proposed: (a) hole thread failure and (b) T-stub flange yielding
accompanied with hole thread failure. Studied parameters
included bolt pre-tension force, the T-stub flange thickness, the
existence of nuts, and the bolt screw depth. Load-displacement
curves and failure modes of the T-stub connection were presented.
Yield tension strength and ultimate tension strengths obtained
from tests were compared with those calculated by design equa-
tions to show that the thread-fixed one-side bolted connection
could be applied in beam-column end-plate connection.

2. Test set-up Fig. 9. Symbol notification.

2.1. Test specimen

The T-stub using thread fixed one-side bolt was shown in Fig. 7
(a). For comparison, additional nuts were added to some specimen
to show whether the ultimate tension strength could be increased,
as shown in Fig. 7(b). And in order to study the load bearing capac-
ity of the thread, T-stubs with partial screwed bolts were also
tested, as shown in Fig. 7(c). The screw depth, tc, was 10 mm, 20
mm and 30 mm respectively. Totally, 36 T-stubs were tested, as
listed in Table 1.
The thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub test specimen included
three parts:

(1) Two M20 high-strength bolts of Class 8.8. Additional nuts or

bolt pre-tension forces were applied to some specimens;
(2) One base T-stub with flange thickness of 30 mm and web
thickness of 20 mm to keep the base T-stub in elastic state. Fig. 10. Mode 4: Hole thread failure.
Holes on the flange had diameter of 22 mm;
(3) 36 target T-stubs with web thickness of 20 mm to prevent
web failure. The flange thickness, t, varied from 6 mm to
30 mm to create different length of threads and plastic fail-
ure modes of the flange. The hole thread type was corre-
sponding to that of the high-strength bolt [50], as shown
in Fig. 8. D = 20 mm and D1 = 17.3 mm were the maximum
and minimum diameter of the bolt thread, respectively.
P = 2.5 mm and H = 0.866P were the thread pitch and thread
triangle height, respectively.

Parameters of the each target T-stub specimen were listed in

Table 1. Mechanical properties of the T-stubs and bolts from cou-
pon test were listed in Table 2.

2.2. Test set-up

The bolted T-stubs were tested on a universal servo-controlled

hydraulic testing machine. The base T-stub and the target T-stub Fig. 11. Mode 5: Flange yielding with hole thread failure.

Table 2
Material mechanical properties.

Components Yield strength (fy/MPa) Ultimate tensile strength (fu/MPa) Elastic modulus (E/GPa) Poisson’s ratio (t)
Web and flange of base T-stub 285.3 449.1 206 0.3
Web of target T-stub 276.8 438.1
Flange of target T-stub with thickness of 6 mm 302.5 471.3
Flange of target T-stub with thickness of 12 mm 282.8 438.5
Flange of target T-stub with thickness of 18 mm 270.8 437.6
High-strength bolts 685.4 885.7
Washer 355.1 601.5
924 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933

were bolted back to back. Three bolt pre-tension forces were w tw

applied: P = 0 kN, 70 kN or 140 kN, as listed in Table 1, where
P = 140 kN was the design bolt pre-tension force in Chinese steel
structure design code [51]. The corresponding pre-tension ratios
were 0, 0.5 and 1.0. The tension tests were carried out under a force
control method with the load speed of 0.05 kN/s at first. After the
T-stubs yielded, the T-stubs were loaded through displacement
control method with load speed of 0.02mm/s.
3. Design methods for thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stubs
EC3-1-8 [41] and SCI P398 [48] provided design methods for
bolted T-stubs in tension. It involved calculating the bolt strength,
the T-stub flange strength, and the combination of bolt and T-stub
flange strength. Symbols of the T-stub were shown in Fig. 9.
m¼   0:8s ð1Þ
2 2
b w
e¼  ð2Þ
2 2
where w was the horizontal distance between bolt centerlines, b
was the width of T-stub flange, tw was T-stub web thickness, s
was the weld leg length.
For T-stub using standard bolts in tension, EC3-1-8 [41] and SCI
P398 [48] proposed three failure modes, which were (1) Mode 1,
complete yielding of the flange; (2) Mode 2, yielding of the flange
with bolt failure; and (3) Mode 3, bolt failure. The tension strength
took the minimum strength of the three modes [49].
It was worth mentioning that, due to the hardening of the
flange material, such as the aluminum alloy material, the failure

(a) Force on the T-stub

(b) Unfolded threads on flange under bending and shear

Fig. 12. Force on the contact area between threads and flange.

(a) Circular yielding (circular patterns) (b) Individual end yielding (circular patterns)

(c) End yielding (non-circular patterns) (d) Double curvature (non-circular patterns)

Fig. 13. Yielding patterns of T-stub.

 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933 925

(a) Failure Mode 1: complete yielding of the T-stub flange (T06-140, t=6mm)

(b) Failure Mode 2: flange yielding with bolt failure (T27-0, t=27mm)

(c) Failure Mode 4: thread failure (T30-140P20, t=30mm, tc=20mm)

(d) Failure Mode 5: flange yielding with thread failure (T16-140, t=16mm)
Fig. 14. Failure modes of tested T-stubs with thread holes.
926 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933

conditions were not so easily predictable as in the case of steel T-
stub in Failure Mode 2. The mixed flange/bolts failure modes could
also occur and it could be divided into 2 categories, which were:
Mode 2a, partial flange failure with the attainment of elastic
strength in bolts and Mode 2b, bolts failure with the attainment
of the elastic strength in flanges. The weakest component was
characterized by significant overstrength beyond yielding, which
was not usually considered for the steel T-stub [45–47].
While for the thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub studied in this
paper, based on failure Mode 2 and failure Mode 3 presented in

Fig. 15. Failure modes of tested T-stubs with additional nuts (T06-140A, t = 6 mm and failed by yielding of T-stub flange).

Table 3
Failure modes and tension strength for T-stubs with different flange thickness.

No. T-stubs specimens Tension strength (FT,Rd)/kN

t/mm Bolt pre-tension Failure modes Calculated results Tested results
force (P)/kN
Tested results Calculated results Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Ultimate strength
T06-70A 6 70 Mode 1 Mode 1 13.9 137.4 282.2 62.6 33.3 56.4
T06-140A 140 51.4
T06-140 140 67.6
T08-70A 8 70 Mode 1 Mode 1 24.8 140.2 282.2 83.5 46.1 177.5
T08-70 70 100.7
T08-140 140 103.1
T10-70A 10 70 Mode 1 Mode 1 38.7 143.9 282.2 104.4 59.6 202.9
T10-70 70 115.5
T10-140 140 114.6
T12-70A 12 70 Mode 1 Mode 1 55.7 148.4 282.2 125.3 74 199.2
T12-70 70 134.6
T12-140 140 131.3
T14-0 14 0 Mode 1 Mode 1 75.9 153.7 282.2 146.1 89.2 147.4
T14-70 70 139.1
T14-140 140 149.7
T16-0 16 0 Mode 5 Mode 1 99.1 159.8 282.2 167 105.2 172.2
T16-70 70 173.3
T16-140 140 166.3
T18-0 18 0 Mode 5 Mode 5 125.4 166.7 282.2 187.9 122 194.5
T18-70 70 202.6
T18-140 140 223.3
T20-0 20 0 Mode 5 Mode 5 154.8 174.4 282.2 208.8 139.6 290.9
T20-70 70 289.6
T20-140 140 285.2
T22-0 22 0 Mode 5 Mode 5 187.3 183 282.2 229.7 158.1 333.8
T22-70 70 328.7
T22-140 140 330.5
T25-0 25 0 Mode 5 Mode 5 241.9 197.3 282.2 260.9 187.3 390.9
T25-70 70 Mode 2 385.7
T25-140 140 Mode 5 397.2
T27-0 27 0 Mode 2 Mode 2 282.1 207.9 282.2 281.8 208.1 424.3
T27-70 70 427.5
T27-140 140 404.5
T30-140P10 30 140 Mode 4 Mode 4 348.3 225.4 282.2 104.4 141.1 100.4
T30-140P20 140 Mode 4 Mode 4 225.4 208.8 221.8 351.9
T30-140F30 140 Mode 2 Mode 2 225.4 313.2 240 432.1
 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933 927

(a) F=0kN (b) F=30kN (c) F=60kN (d) F=67.6kN (failed)

Fig. 16. Deformation of T-stub at different applied load (T06-140, t = 6 mm).

(a) F=0kN (b) F=50kN (c) F=100kN (d) F=151.4 kN (failed)

Fig. 17. Deformation of T-stub with nuts at different applied load (T06-140A, t = 6 mm).

EC3-1-8, considering the potential failure of hole thread, two new 3.1. Failure Mode 4: Hole thread failure
failure modes would occur: which were (1) Mode 4, hole thread
failure, as shown in Fig. 10; and (2) Mode 5, flange yielding accom- For Failure Mode 4 shown in Fig. 10, the tension resistance of
panied with hole thread failure, as shown in Fig. 11, where Fs,Rd the T-stub could be calculated by:
was the design resistance of threads. In the design equations given X
F T;4;Rd ¼ F s;Rd ð3Þ
in EC3-1-8, the tension bolt resistance Ft,Rd could be replaced by
the thread resistance Fs,Rd. Corresponding design equations for X X 
the two new failure modes were given below. F s;Rd ¼ min F s;1;Rd ; F s;2;Rd ð4Þ

400
300
Mode 3(282.2kN) Mode 1(348.3kN)
350

250
300 Mode 3(282.2kN)
Mode 4(208.8kN)
200 250
Mode 2(225.4kN)
Mode 2(174.4kN)
F (kN)

Mode 5(221.8kN)
F (kN)

Mode 1(154.8kN) 200 Mode 4(208.8kN)

150 Mode 5(139.6kN)
150

100
100
t =20mm:
50
T20-0, P=0kN 50 T30-140P20:
T20-70, P=70kN t =30mm(tc=20mm),P=140kN
T20-140, P=140kN
0
0 0 1 2 3 4 5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 s (mm)
s (mm)
Fig. 19. Load-displacement curves of the tested partially screwed T-stubs (T30-
Fig. 18. Load-displacement curves of T-stub with flange thickness of 20 mm. 140P20, t = 30 mm and tc = 20 mm).
928 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933

160 Mode 2(153.7kN)

180
Mode 4(146.1kN) Mode 4(167kN)
140
160
Mode 2(159.8kN)
120 140

100 120
Mode 5(89.2kN) Mode 5(105.2kN)
100

F (kN)
F (kN)

80 Mode 1(75.9kN) Mode 1(99.1kN)

80
60
60
40 t=14mm: t=16mm:
40
T14-0, P=0kN T16-0, P=0kN
20 T14-70, P=70kN 20 T16-70, P=70kN
T14-140, P=140kN T16-140, P=140kN
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25

s (mm) s (mm)

(a) T-stub with flange thickness of 14mm (b) T-stub with flange thickness of 16mm
250 300
Mode 3(282.2kN)
225

200 250
Mode 4(187.9kN)
175 Mode 2(166.7kN) Mode 4(208.8kN)
200
150 Mode 2(174.4kN)
Mode 1(125.4kN)
F (kN)

Mode 1(154.8kN)
F (kN)

125 150
Mode 5(122kN) Mode 5(139.6kN)
100

75 100
t=18mm: t=20mm:
50 T18-0, P=0kN T20-0, P=0kN
T18-70, P=70kN 50
25 T20-70, P=70kN
T18-140, P=140kN
T20-140, P=140kN
0
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
s (mm)
s (mm)
(c) T-stub with flange thickness of 18mm (d) T-stub with flange thickness of 20mm

400
350

350
300
Mode 3(282.2kN)
300 Mode 3(282.2kN)
250 Mode 4(260.9kN)
Mode 4(229.7kN)
250 Mode 1(241.9kN)
F (kN)

200 Mode 1(187.3kN) Mode 2(197.3kN)

F (kN)

200
Mode 2(183kN)
150
Mode 5(187.3kN)
Mode 5(158.1kN) 150

100
t=22mm: 100 t=25mm:
T22-0, P=0kN T25-0, P=0kN
50 T22-70, P=70kN 50 T25-70, P=70kN
T22-140, P=140kN T25-140, P=140kN
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
s (mm) s (mm)
(e) T-stub with flange thickness of 22mm (f) T-stub with flange thickness of 25mm
Fig. 20. Load-displacement curves of tested T-stubs with different pre-tension force.
 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933 929

450 4. Test results and discussion

400
4.1. Failure modes of one-side bolted T-stubs with thread holes
350
With the changing of T-stub flange thickness, four failure modes
300 Mode 1(282.1kN) Mode 3(282.2kN) were observed from test, except for bolt failure (Failure Mode 3).
Mode 4(281.8kN) The deformation of bolts and T-stubs at the ultimate states were
F (kN)

250
Mode 5(207.7kN) Mode 2(207.9kN) illustrated in Fig. 14.
200 The specimen T06-140 had flange thickness of 6mm and it was
failed by complete yielding of the T-stub flange (Failure Mode 1), as
150
shown in Fig. 14(a). The 140 kN pre-tension force did not cause
t =27mm:
100 pre-mature failure of the hole thread. The specimen T27-0 was
T27-0, P=0kN
T27-70, P=70kN failed by yielding of T-stub flange accompanied with bolt failure
50
T27-140, P=140kN (Failure Mode 2), as shown in Fig. 14(b). That is, if given enough
0
thread length, the thread strength could be higher than the bolt
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 tension strength. The specimen T30-140P20 that the bolts only
s (mm) partially screwed into the holes was failed by hole thread failure
(Failure Mode 4), as shown in Fig. 14(c). And the specimen T16-
(g) T-stub with flange thickness of 27mm
140 was failed by yielding of the T-stub flange accompanied with
Fig. 20 (continued) hole thread failure (Failure Mode 5), as shown in Fig. 14(d). The
nut did not improve yield tension strength of the bolted T-stub;
however, it could prevent the separation of two T-stubs after flange
Fs,1,Rd was the shear strength of one thread, yielding, as shown in Fig. 15. Thus, the ultimate tension strength of
the bolted T-stub was increased.
F s;1;Rd ¼ Av f yv ;p ð5Þ
Failure modes and the corresponding tension strengths
obtained from design equations and test for each T-stub were
Av ¼ pDhs ð6Þ listed in Table 3.
The tested ultimate strength was the maximum tension force
Fs,2,Rd was the bending strength of one thread,
obtained from the load-displacement curve. That is, the failure cri-
W p f y;p terion in determination of the ultimate tension strength in test was
F s;2;Rd ¼ ð7Þ that when the tension force reached the apex of the load-
bs
displacement curves. Except for the thickness of T-stub flange
t = 16 mm and T25-70, failure modes observed in test agreed with
pDh2s those in calculation, as listed in Table 3.
Wp ¼ ð8Þ
4 Deformations of the T-stub T06-140 at different applied loads
were shown in Fig. 16. Although the strength of the thread was
fy much lower than the tensile strength of the bolt, the plastic yield
f yv ;p ¼ pffiffiffi ð9Þ
3 strength of the T-stub flange was even lower than the thread
strength. The tension strength of T06-140 calculated by P398
fyv,p and fy,p were the shear strength and yield strength of the T-
[48] was 13.9 kN. At this load level and even up to 30 kN, there
stub flange, respectively. fyv,p could be calculated by Equation (9),
was no out-of-plane deformation of the T-stub, as shown in
where fy was yield strength of the steel [52]. China design code
Fig. 16(b), which indicated that the one-side bolted T-stub with
[53] also provided nominal values of fyv,p that were frequently-
thread holes had sufficient load carrying capacity and stiffness.
used. Av was the efficient shear area of one circle of threads. D
With the increasing of tension force to 60 kN, the T-stub encoun-
was the external diameter of the bolt thread. bs and hs were the
tered flange yielding, as shown in Fig. 16(c). When the tension
height and width of the internal thread on flange respectively, as
force kept increase to 67.6 kN, the thread failed and led to the sep-
shown in Fig. 12, which depended on the type of the thread.
aration of two T-stubs, as shown in Fig. 16(d).
According to bolts used in this paper, as shown in Fig. 8(b),
When adding nuts to one-side bolt, the design load and the ten-
hs = 7P/8 and bs = (D  D1)/2 = 5H/8.
sile force that caused the plate yield were not improved. However,
the T-stub flange did not separate from the base T-stub because of
3.2. Failure Mode 5: Flange yielding accompanied with hole thread the clamping of the nuts. The ultimate tensile strength of the T-
failure stub increased greatly because there was no thread failure in nuts,
as shown in Fig. 17.
For Failure Mode 5 shown in Fig. 11, the tension strength of the
T-stub could be calculated by:
P 4.2. Load-displacement curves
2M pl;5;Rd þ e F s;Rd
F T;5;Rd ¼ ð10Þ
mþe Load-displacement curves of the tested T-stubs with flange
X thickness of 20mm were shown in Fig. 18, where the displacement
M pl;5;Rd ¼ 0:25 leff ;5 t 2f f y =cM0 ð11Þ s was the axial displacement along the tension force. The axial ten-
sion load increased linearly at the first stage of the loading, which
m and e were geometrical parameters indicated in Fig. 11. cM0 = 1.0 indicated that the bolted T-stub was in elastic state and there was
P
was the partial factor. leff,5 was the total effective length of the no out-of-plane deformation occurred in the flange. When the load
T-stub flange in the joint and took the length leff,nc, as shown in reached approximately 80% of the peak load, the axial displace-
Fig. 13. tf and fy were the thickness and the yield strength of the ment increased suddenly, indicating that the yielding of the T-
T-stub flange respectively. stub flange. The corresponding yielding strength of the T-stub
930 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933

450

P =0kN:
400
T14-0, t =14mm
350 T16-0, t =16mm
T18-0, t =18mm
300 T20-0, t =20mm
T22-0, t =22mm
T25-0, t =25mm

F (kN)
250
T27-0, t =27mm
200

150

100

50

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
s (mm)
(a) P =0kN
450
P=70kN:
400 T08-70, t=8mm
T10-70, t=10mm
350 T12-70, t=12mm
T14-70, t=14mm
300 T16-70, t=16mm
T18-70, t=18mm
250
T20-70, t=20mm
F (kN)

T22-70, t=22mm
200
T25-70, t=25mm
150 T27-70, t=27mm

100

50

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
s (mm)

(b) P =70kN

450 P=140kN:
T06-140, t=6mm
400 T08-140, t=8mm
T10-140, t=10mm
350 T12-140, t=12mm
T14-140, t=14mm
300
T16-140, t=16mm
T18-140, t=18mm
F (kN)

250
T20-140, t=20mm
200 T22-140, t=22mm
T25-140, t=25mm
150 T27-140, t=27mm
T30-140, t=30mm
100

50

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
s (mm)

(c) P =140kN
Fig. 21. Load-displacement curves of tested T-stubs with different t.
 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933 931

(a) t =6mm
225

200

175

150 Mode 2(143.9kN)

F (kN)

125
Mode 4(104.4kN)
100

75
Mode 5(59.6kN)
50 t=10mm:
Mode 1(38.7kN)
T10-70, P=70kN
25 T10-140, P=140kN
T10-70A, P=70kN
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
s (mm)
(b) t =10mm
200

175

Mode 2(148.4kN)
150

Mode 4(125.3kN)
125
F (kN)

100

Mode 5(74kN)
75
Mode 1(55.7kN)
50 t=12mm:
T12-70, P=70kN
25 T12-140, P=140kN
T12-70A, P=70kN
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
s (mm)

(c) t =12mm
Fig. 22. Load-displacement curves of T-stubs with/without additional nuts.

was about 80% of the ultimate strength. The tension force could
increase further because of the clamping of the thread. It was
accompanied by squeaking noise, indicating the sequence failure
of the hole threads. For the T-stub with thin flange, the flange could
be transferred from bending to stretching, as shown in Figs. 14
(a) and 15. This state was far beyond the service limit of a bolted
connection; however, it showed the robustness of the connection
under extreme load.
According to P398 [48], the T-stub with flange thickness of
20mm failed by Failure Mode 5 at design strength of 139.6 kN. Test
932 M. Liu et al. / Engineering Structures 150 (2017) 918–933
results proved that the bolted T-stub failed by Mode 5; however,
the ultimate tension strength was much higher than the calcula-
tion result, as illustrated in Fig. 18.
Bolted T-stub with partial screwed bolts might fail by thread
failure, such as specimen T30-140P20. The flange thickness was
30 mm and threads depth tc was 20 mm. The load-displacement
curve of T30-140P20 was shown in Fig. 19. The axial tension load
also increased linearly at the first stage of the loading, indicating
that the T-stub flanges and threads were all in elastic state. After
threads failed, the T-stub lost its bearing capacity and had low duc-
tility. The axial deformation of the connection was only 2.8 mm.
Compared with the specimen T20-140 that had screw length of
20 mm and plate thickness of 20 mm, the specimen T30-140P20
had higher tension strength and smaller ultimate displacement.
5. Parameter studies of thread-fixed one-sided bolted T-stub
As listed in Table 1, studied parameters included bolt pre-
tension force, T-stub flange thickness, nut existence and bolt screw
depth.
5.1. Effects of bolt pre-tension force
Load-displacement curves of T-stubs with different flange
thickness were shown in Fig. 20. Three bolt pre-tension forces were
studied: P = 0 kN, 70 kN and 140 kN. And the pre-tension force
almost had no influence on the yield and the ultimate tension
strength of the T-stub. With the increase in the pre-tension force,
the initial stiffness of the T-stubs increased slightly. After the T-
stub flange yielded, the pre-tension force had little influence on
tension behavior of the connection.
5.2. Effects of flange thickness
Influences of flange thickness on T-stub load-displacement
curves were shown in Fig. 21. With the increase of flange thickness,
the thread length increased. The stiffness, ultimate tension
strength and yield strength of the T-stub all increased correspond-
ingly. Tension strengths of T-stubs obtained from design equations
[48] were also illustrated on the load-displacement curves. It could
be seen that the T-stub were all in elastic stage under the calcu-
lated load.
5.3. Effects of additional nuts
Additional nuts were added in the T-stubs with flange thinner
than 12mm, in order to investigate whether the loading bearing
capacity would be increased. Load-displacement curves of the T-
stubs with and without nuts were shown in Fig. 22. The nut did
not improve the T-stub yield strength. For the T-stub with flange
thickness of 6mm, the yield strength were all 33.3 kN, as shown
in Fig. 22(a). However, the nuts could prevent the separation of
two T-stubs after flange yielding. Thus the ultimate tension
strength could be greatly improved. At this stage, the T-stub flange
severely deformed, which was far beyond the design ultimate limit
state.
5.4. Comparison between the tested strengths and the calculated
strengths
From load-displacement curves of the T-stub obtained from the
test, and the corresponding tension strengths to the five different
failure modes calculated from the theoretical design formulas pre-
sented above, it could be seen that the failure modes observed in
test agreed well with those in calculation, as listed in Table 3.
For the T-stub with different parameters (the bolt pre-tension
force, the T-stub flange thickness or the nut existence), the
thread-fixed one-sided bolted T-stubs were all still in the elastic
state and with small deformation under the design load. The ulti-
mate load of T-stubs was much greater than the design load, show-
ing that the design methods in EC3 and the proposed design
equations in this paper could be used to predict the tension
strength of the thread-fixed one-sided bolted T-stub with the con-
servative results, which could meet the design requirement.
6. Conclusions
Tension behaviors of one-side bolted T-stub through threaded
holes were investigated by tests to verify the two new failure
modes and the corresponding design equations. The two new fail-
ure modes considered the potential failure of hole thread, and the
thread resistances of bolts fixed directly to plates were evaluated
by experimental analysis. Load displacement curves of the bolted
T-stub with different bolt pre-tension force, different thickness of
T-stub flange, the existence of nut or not and the screw depth of
the bolt were presented. Tension strengths of the T-stubs obtained
from tests were compared with those calculated from design
methods. Main conclusions of this study were summarized as
follow:
(1) Due to the potential failure of the hole thread, two new fail-
ure modes should be considered for the thread-fixed one-
side bolted T-stub, which were (a) hole thread failure, and
(b) flange yielding accompanied with hole thread failure.
(2) Four failure modes were observed in tests when the T-stub
flange thickness increased from 6 mm to 30 mm, which
were: Failure Mode 1: flange yielding; Failure Mode 2:
flange yielding accompanied with bolt failure; Failure Mode
4: hole thread failure; and Failure Mode 5: flange yielding
accompanied with hole thread failure. Proposed design
method could precisely predict the failure modes.
(3) Bolt pre-tension force could slightly improve the initial stiff-
ness of the T-stubs; however, the yield and ultimate tension
strength were almost not affected.
(4) The nuts did not improve the yield strength of the T-stub.
However, they could prevent the separation of two T-stubs
after flange yielding. Thus the ultimate tension strength
could be greatly improved. At this stage, the T-stub flange
severely deformed, which was far beyond the design ulti-
mate limit state and demonstrated the robustness of the
thread-fixed one-side bolted T-stub under extreme load.
(5) Under the design load, the thread-fixed one-side bolted T-
stub was still in elastic state. Design methods in EC3 and
the proposed design equations for new failure modes could
be used to predict the tension strength of the T-stub through
thread holes and on the safety side.
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to acknowledge the support from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (51578322, 51608305), the
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2015EM041,
2016GGX103013) for the work reported in this paper.
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