Behavior and design formulation of steel CHS with sleeve connections

Abstract

Structures with tubular profiles gain space in civil construction due to their excellent response under tension, compression, and torsion. They are widely used in structural trusses, especially in large lengths. The profiles have a limited size due to the manufacturing and transport process. Therefore, there is a need to use some mechanism to perform the joint of profiles and obtain the desired length. This work aims to develop a new type of bar splice in circular hollow section (CHS) connection called sleeve connection, composed of two tubes connected with another smaller diameter tube with bolts arranged in a line (staggered bolts). This research presents an experimental, numerical, and parametric study of sleeve connection in CHS under centric axial tension. A numerical model was developed using the finite element method (FEM) considering sleeve connection with staggered bolts. From the numerical results, it was possible to analyze the connection behavior and failure modes: yielding gross cross-section, fracture through the effective net area, bolt shear failure, bearing failure of the plate, and bolt bending failure. This way, formulations were proposed to predict the sleeve connections' behavior with staggered bolts as a function of the failure modes.