Strength and rotational stiffness of simple connections to tubular columns using flowdrill connectors

✍ Scribed by John E France; J Buick Davison; Patrick A Kirby

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 390 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0143-974X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0143-974x(98)00236-3

✦ Synopsis

A new thermal drilling technique (the flowdrill process) has made it possible to use ordinary bolts in tapped holes in relatively thin-walled tubes. This in turn has opened the opportunity for traditional partial depth and flush endplate connections to be used to join open section beams to tubular columns in simply designed braced steel frames. The experimental work reported concerns a series of tests conducted to investigate the moment capacity and rotational stiffness of simple joints bolted to tubular columns using flowdrill connectors. Tests show the connections to behave in a manner suitable for use as either pinned or partial strength connections for simply designed braced steel frames. This paper is one of a series; the others deal with moment-resisting connections and the influence of filling the tubes with concrete.