Stiffness & strength of bolted connections 1

[Quantum Leap]

how can I calculate the stiffness & strength of a bolted connection to judge whether it will behave as a fully restrained or partially restrained connection ?
Without performing practical experiments on the connection.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

I think testing is the best way. Or, reviewing of publications for similar types of connections.

A lot of research these days will combine tests with some advanced FEM analysis. Mostly as a means of reducing costs as tests can be expensive. They can certainly be used to extrapolate test data for additional shapes and sizes. But, the FEM results by themselves are not as useful unless you have something to compare them to....

 

[klaus.]

Well
basically you need to know who much rotation your connection is doing
You can find out by testing or FE Calculatipn or 'hand'calculation
EuroCode (EC3) give some help on this....




best regards
Klaus