Bolted Wide Flange Splice Connection Details

[sedonas]

Many structural engineers I talked to are only familiar with welded wide flange splice connections. They almost never did bolted connections on the splice. So I'd like to hear from those who have worked on this.

This is the wide flange sample (w8x21) to be spliced.. it has 10mm top and down flange thickness.

1. When using bolted splice.. does the cover plates have to be as thick as the flange (10mm)?

2. Have you used 2 bolts per side only (it's 3 bolts per side in the picture shared by Kootk). The head engineer computed even one bolt (12mm bolt) is enough to hold the weight.. but for moment connection.. is 2 bolts the minimum or 3?

3. How long must the cover plates extend to each side? How is this computed?

4. Is there a counterpart of American Welding Society such as Bolted Welding Society and guidelines for it like the AWS D1.1?

5. Please show how you did your wide flange splice connection.. also pictures appreciated..

6. We will let 3 separate structural engineers design it locally but since they never worked on it. We need some idea for comparison.. many thanks!

 

[BAretired]

1. When using bolted splice.. does the cover plates have to be as thick as the flange (10mm)?
2. Have you used 2 bolts per side only (it's 3 bolts per side in the picture shared by Kootk). The head engineer computed even one bolt (12mm bolt) is enough to hold the weight.. but for moment connection.. is 2 bolts the minimum or 3?
3. How long must the cover plates extend to each side? How is this computed?
4. Is there a counterpart of American Welding Society such as Bolted Welding Society and guidelines for it like the AWS D1.1?
5. Please show how you did your wide flange splice connection.. also pictures appreciated..
6. We will let 3 separate structural engineers design it locally but since they never worked on it. We need some idea for comparison.. many thanks!

1. If you are expecting to develop the full WF section in bending, the cover plates must have the same area as the flanges, not necessarily the same thickness.
2. Two bolts are permissible if they are adequate to do the job.
3. Simply observe normal bolt spacing and end distances.
4. I don't know.
5. No pics available, sorry. But there are some on the internet.

You may find some useful information here:

http://www.cisc-icca.ca/files/publi...ions/momentconnectionsseismicapplications.pdf

BA

 

[gtaw]

Consider using the AISC Steel Construction manual as a reference for designing your connection.

Best regards - Al