Abstract
Screw connections have been extensively used in cold-formed steel constructions due to convenient construction and high capacity. However, little attention has been paid to the pull-out performance and parametric effects of screw connections. In this paper, the pull-out performance of screw connections is experimentally and numerically investigated. The objective of this study is to develop a refined finite element (FE) model that can be used to parametrically analyze the pull-out performance of screw connections. Eight sets of experimental results are selected for comparison with the FE results to validate the accuracy of the FE model. Based on the validated FE model, parametric analyses of the main variables in screw connections are conducted to discuss the effects of the tensile strength, the steel plate thickness, screw diameter and the ratio of thread pitch to plate thickness on the pull-out performance of screw connections. The results indicate that the failure modes of specimens are mainly classified into screw hole extrusion and thread shear failure. It is also found that the tensile strength, the steel plate thickness, screw diameter and the ratio of thread pitch to plate thickness have significant effects on the pull-out resistance of screw connections. Particularly, the numerically obtained pull-out resistance are used to assess the accuracy of the codified design rules for screw connections, as given in the Chinese Code, North American Specification, British Standard and European Norm. The evaluation results reveal that the current design formulas are relatively conservative. The formula proposed by one referenced paper is insecure, while the distribution trend is basically consistent with the straight line of PS/PFEM = 1.0 (the ratio of the calculated values to the FE values is equal to1.0), therefore, it can be used as a good reference for calculating the pull-out resistance of screw connections. Besides, the modified design formula in this study has good applicability.
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