Numerical investigation of cold formed steel sleeve connection for channel sections subjected to combined bending and shear

Abstract

This study focuses on the behaviour of the sleeve connection to ensure proper distribution of moment at the location of discontinuity between two channel sections subjected to combined bending and shear using finite element (FE) modelling. The FE model was validated with the experimental data from previous authors studies and was found. A total of 180 simulations were carried out as part of the parametric study, by varying the depth, thickness, length of sleeve connector, length of the test specimen, and bolt configuration. Two modes of failure were identified based on sleeve length (Ls) and combination of sleeve length and channel thicknesses. The Ls/D ratios were suggested to achieve a similar strength and stiffness of sleeve specimen when compared with control specimen. The influence of sleeve length on the ultimate moment resistance was studied for combination of sleeve length and channel thickness. The increase in the channel thickness from 2 mm to 2.5 mm led to as significant increase in the ultimate moment resistance. An equation was proposed to calculate the nominal moment capacity of sleeved specimens and reliability analysis of this equation was carried out. The conservativeness of the proposed design procedure was checked by comparing it with the AISI S100 [1] interaction curve.