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lriclion-grip 8olled Conneclions lor Slruclural
Class Llemenls. Praclical Solulions Using an
Lxperimenlal and Numerical Coupled Approach
Dr. Adrian Panail, CST8
!
, Prol. Qi-Chang He, Universile de Marne-La-Vallee
2
, Ms. Karine Morcanl, CST8
!
,
Mr. Michel Cossavella, CST8
!
!
84 avenue Jean-Jaures, 77447 Marne-La-Vallee Cedex 2, lrance
2
!9 rue Allred Nobel, 77420 Champs sur Marne, lrance
Keywords
!=bolled conneclions 2=dry lriclion 3=unilaleral conlacl 4=lnile elemenl melhod
AbsIracI
This work aims al providing an ellcienl
lool lor lhe design and oplimizalion
ol lriclion-grip bolled conneclions,
probably lhe mosl commonly used
assembling lechnique lor glass beams
or plales. The resulling mechanical
problems are complex because
highly nonlinear phenomena such as
unilaleral conlacl and dry lriclion are
involved. To achieve lhe objeclive, a
coupled experimenlal and numerical
approach is developed in lhis work.
The unilaleral lriclional conlacl
problem posed by a spliced glass
conneclion is numerically solved using
lhe MSC MAPC lnile elemenl code
in which a glass aluminium lriclion
law, proposed and idenliled on lhe
basis ol a lhorough experimenlal
invesligalion, is implemenled. The
numerical simulalions, validaled by lull
scale lesls, provide lhe slresses and
conlacl pressure due lo lhe combined
aclion ol lhe boll's lighlening and an
applied langenlial loading. The conlacl
area evolulion and lhe co-exislence
ol slip and adhesion zones inside lhe
conlacl area are idenliled and shown
lo be in good agreemenl wilh exisling
lheorelical resulls. An imporlanl local
lensile slress concenlralion, probably
responsible lor a lensile mode ol lailure
ol lhe joinl, has been lound in good
agreemenl wilh experimenlal resulls.
An example ol geomelrical oplimizalion
leading lo an improved mechanical
behaviour ol lhe conneclion is lhen
given lhrough a paramelric sludy carried
oul using lhe developed numerical lool.
Hencelorlh, lhis work makes il
possible lo approach lhe design and
oplimisalion ol bolled glass conneclions
in a ralional way inslead ol lhe empirical
one usually prevailing.
IhIroducIioh
ln glass lacades, lhe assembling ol
glass beams or slilleners is lrequenlly
encounlered as laades are generally
higher lhan lhe maximum manulaclure
lenglh ol glass plales which is aboul
6m. Some examples ol glass slilleners
are shown in lig. !. ln lrance, due
lo lhe lack ol adapled design rules
or slandards, lhe assembling ol
glass beams and plales has been
realized in an empirical way, and real-
size experimenlal lesls have been
syslemalically carried oul lor imporlanl
buildings. 8esides lhe lechnical
dillcullies and high cosls generaled,
real-size lesls provide only global
inlormalion bul nol delailed local dala
relalive lo slrain and slress dislribulions,
which are however essenlial lor design
and oplimizalion.
8olled conneclion presenlly
conslilules lhe main assembling
lechnique lor glass beams and plales.
8ecause ol lhe brillleness ol glass,
lriclion-grip bolled conneclions, in
which lhe langenlial slresses are
lransmilled by lriclion and lhe direcl
conlacl belween boll and glass is
avoided, are widely used. As shown in
lig. 2, inserls generally made ol a soll
aluminium alloy are placed belween
sleel splice plales and glass plales. The
langenlial lorces are lhus lranslerred
by lhe lriclion laking place belween
aluminium inserls and glass subsequenl
lo lhe lighlening ol HS bolls.
Among a large number ol lechnical
papers dealing wilh bolled spliced
conneclions, only a lew ones are
concerned wilh lhose in which
langenlial loading is exclusively
lranslerred by lriclion. ln a pioneer
work 5, Spiers and Cullimore (!966)
presenled lhe resulls oblained lrom
a pholoelaslic analysis ol lriclion-
grip bolled conneclions and lheir
conclusions are imporlanl lor lhe
underslanding ol mechanisms preceding
||ure 1
bo||ed connec||on: o| |a:: :|ruc|rua| e|emen|:
||ure 2
A |yp|ca| |r|c||on-r|p bo||ed connec||on o| |a::
p|a|e:
macroscopic sliding. We also reler
lhe reader lo 2 lor lhe resulls ol an
experimenlal sludy on melallic lriclion-
grip bolled conneclions. The resulls ol
an experimenlal comparison belween
lriclion-grip and bearing-lype aluminium
bolled joinls are given in ! in lhe lorm
ol design lables. To lhe besl ol lhe
aulhors' knowledge, no resulls seem lo
have been reporled in relalion lo lhe
lriclion-grip bolled conneclions in glass
slruclures.
ln a lypical lriclion-grip bolled
conneclion, lhe macroscopic relalive
sliding belween conlacling surlaces
conslilules a lailure mechanism and
is lhus nol loleraled. This means
lhal lhe langenlial load musl always
remain inlerior lo lhe smallesl lriclion
lorce developed belween any lwo
conlacling surlaces. Pegarding lhe
lriclion coellcienls ol lhe componenls
ol a lypical bolled conneclion used in
a glass slruclure and shown in lig. 2,
lhe inlerlace belween lhe aluminium
inserl and lhe glass plale lurns oul lo
be lhe weakesl one. Consequenlly, lhe
lriclional slrenglh ol lhis inlerlace is
delerminanl lor lhe joinl inlegrily and
a precise characlerisalion ol lhe lriclion
belween an aluminium inserl and a
glass plale is lhe key bolh lo lhe design
and lhe salely ol such assembling
syslems. This characlerisalion can be
done only lhrough an experimenlal
approach. Al lhe same lime, lhe
assembling ol glass beams and plales
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by lriclion-grip conneclions gives rise lo
a complex unilaleral lriclional conlacl
problem which, due lo ils slrong
nonlinearilies, can be only numerically
solved.
ln lhe presenl work, a coupled
experimenlal and numerical approach
is developed. lirsl, an experimenlal
lribological sludy is carried oul lo
propose a law able ol precisely
describing lhe relevanl lriclion
phenomenon belween glass and
aluminium. Nexl, lhe unilaleral lriclional
conlacl problem posed by lriclion-
grip bolled conneclions is numerically
analyzed by using lhe MSC MAPCO
lnile elemenl code in which lhe
proposed lriclion law is implemenled.
linally, lull scale lesls are perlormed lor
glass slruclures lo globally validale lhe
numerical simulalions and a paramelric
sludy is carried oul.
LxperimehIal sIudy o! Ihe dry
!ricIioh beIweeh alumihium ahd
glass
To precisely characlerize lhe dry lriclion
belween glass and aluminium, an
original lribomeler is specially designed
and manulaclured (see lig. 3), and
a syslemalic experimenlal sludy is
perlormed. ln lhis seclion, only lhe main
experimenlal resulls are oullined. lor
more delailed inlormalion, lhe reader
can reler lo 4.
The experimenlal resulls clearly show
lhal lhe widely used Coulomb law
is nol sullcienlly appropriale lor lhe
descriplion ol lhe dry lriclion belween
annealed or lempered glass and
aluminium. lndeed, lhe laller lurns oul
lo be lime-dependenl. More precisely,
when a normal compressive slress is
applied and kepl conslanl, lhe Coulomb
lriclion coellcienl increases wilh ils
duralion (lig. 4).
The normal load duralion lesls
perlormed on annealed glass al 25
2C show lhal lhe increase ol lhe
lriclion coellcienl wilh respecl lo ils
inilial value reaches aboul 45 aller
!0 minules and is slabilized lowards
a value ol 65 aller one hour. Al !0
2C, lhe increase is less imporlanl
since il represenls only 30 aller !0
minules and 4! aller one hour. lor
lhe lempered glass samples lesled only
al 25 2C, lhe increase ol lhe lriclion
coellcienl wilh respecl lo is 50 and
65 aller one hour and !0 hours ol
conlacl, respeclively.
To accounl lor lhe lime-dependenl
lriclional slrenglhening ol lhe
aluminium-glass lriclion in lhe numerical
analysis, lhe lime-dependenl lriclional
model proposed in 4 and given
herealler is implemenled in lhe MSC
MAPCO lnile-elemenl package.
ln lhis expression, , , and are lour
posilive malerial paramelers. Using lhe
experimenlal dala, lhe lve malerial
paramelers ol lhe proposed aluminium-
glass lriclion model are idenliled and
lheir numerical values are recapilulaled
in Table !.
1hree-dimehsiohal !hiIe elemehI
ahalysis
ln order lo gel inlormalion on lhe
mechanical behaviour ol glass beams
and plales assembled by lriclion-grip
bolled conneclions, lhe lnile elemenl
melhod is used. ln parlicular, lhree-
dimensional lnile elemenl models lor
lriclion-grip bolled conneclions and
relevanl glass slruclures are developed
by means ol MSC MAPCO lnile
elemenl package in which lhe lriclion
model presenled in lhe loregoing
seclion is preliminarily incorporaled.
Three-dimensional (3D) isoparamelric
solid elemenls wilh eighl nodes
are employed lo model all lhe joinl
componenls, i.e., glass plale, aluminium
inserl, slainless disk, splice plale, nul
and washer. Owing lo lhe lacl lhal lhe
joinl is symmelric wilh respecl lo ils
middle lhickness and wideness planes,
only a quarler ol il is modelled as shown
in lig. 5. Correspondingly, symmelry
boundary condilions are imposed along
lhese symmelry planes.
The loading ol a joinl consisls ol
an axial clamping load N, induced by
lhe lorque P applied lo lhe bolls and
lransmilled lo lhe splices lhrough
lhe washers, and a langenlial lorce
applied in ils plane. ln lhe lLM model,
lhe clamping load N is experimenlally
deduced lrom lhe lorque P (using an
exlensomeler) and is represenled as a
unilormly dislribuled pressure pw acling
on lhe washer.
The lollowing loading palhs are
considered. lor each boll, lhe clamping
load N is lrslly linearly increased and
lhen mainlained conslanl as a unilorm
dislribuled pressure on lhe washer. Thus
inlervenes lhe lime-dependenl lriclion
experimenlally idenliled in lhe previous
seclion. The nexl slep ol lhe loading
consisls in applying a langenlial load
T on lhe edge and in lhe plane ol lhe
splice plale. Small loading incremenls
||ure J
5cheme o| |he |r|c||on
|e:||n appara|u:
||ure 4
1|me dependence o|
|he annea|ed |a:: /
100A a|um|n|um and
|empered |a:: / 100A
a|um|n|um |r|c||on coe|-
|c|en|
(

+ + =

) e 1 (
o

) e 1 (
u

1
t o t u
1ab|e 1
|den|||ed |a:: / a|um|n|um 100A |n|er|ace
|r|c||ona| parame|er:
||ure
||n||e e|emen|: mode| o| a doub|e bo||ed con-
nec||on
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are imposed in order bolh lo caplure
lhe incipienl sliding and ensure a good
convergence.
The main resulls ol lhe numerical
simulalions are lhe maximal langenlial
load lhal a glass lriclion-grip bolled
joinl can supporl, as well as lhe slrain
and slress dislribulions on lhe glass
plale under lhe combined aclion ol
normal and langenlial loads. 8esides,
lhe spalial evolulion ol lhe conlacl area
belween lhe aluminium inserl and lhe
glass plale wilh increasing langenlial
load allows lhe idenlilcalion ol slipping
and slicking zones inside lhe conlacl
area in lhe incipienl phase ol sliding. ln
whal lollows, we presenl lhese resulls
lrsl lor a single bolled joinl model and
nexl lor a double bolled one.
5|n|e bo||ed connec||on
ln order lo qualilalively compare our
numerical resulls wilh lhe conclusions
oblained by Spiers and Cullimore 5
lrom a pholoelaslic analysis ol lriclion-
grip bolled joinls, a single bolled joinl
is modelled. lirslly, all lhe melallic
componenls in lhe single-bolled
model are lrslly laken lo be linearly
elaslic. Then, an elasloplaslic behaviour
wilh lhe von Mises crilerion and an
isolropic hardening law is adopled. The
numerical resulls in lhese lwo silualions
are compared lo show lhe ellecls ol
plaslicily.
ln our numerical simulalion, a
unilormly dislribuled normal pressure
pw = !76.84 N/mm2, corresponding lo
a clamping lorce N = 50 kN, is applied
on lhe considered hall-washer, and lhe
lime-dependenl lriclional behaviour ol
lhe inlerlace is considered.
ln lig. 6, lhe conlacl area belween
lhe aluminium inserl and lhe glass plale
evolves wilh an increasing langenlial
load belore lhe appearance ol a
macroscopic relalive displacemenl. lrom
a symmelrical dislribulion observed
al lhe end ol lhe boll lighlening
(while dols line), lhe conlacl area
shills increasingly lo lhe righl, in lhe
sense ol lhe langenlial load. This
phenomenon, which could be explained
by lhe apparilion and developmenl ol
micro-sliding zones during lhe increase
ol lhe langenlial load, is in good
agreemenl wilh lhe consideralions ol
Johnson (3) on lhe incipienl sliding
process. According lo him, while lhe
applied langenlial lorce is inlerior lo
lhe lriclional lhreshold, lhe lack ol
macroscopic relalive displacemenl
belween lhe dillerenl elemenls does
nol imply lhe absence ol micro-slip
somewhere wilhin lhe conlacl area.
Over parls ol lhe inlerlace, lhere are
"micro-slip" regions where small relalive
displacemenls appear as a resull ol
shear lorce, while lhe remainder ol
lhe conlacl inlerlace delorms wilh no
sliding and corresponds lo a "slick"
slalus.
ln lig. 7, lhe conlacl shear slresses
on glass, along lhe longiludinal axis
ol lhe conneclion are given. They are
in good agreemenl wilh lhe resulls ol
Spiers and Cullimore (5) deduced lrom
lhe pholoelaslic analysis ol lriclion-grip
bolled joinls. ln parlicular, lhey observed
slress disconlinuilies and jusliled lhese
disconlinuilies as lhe limil belween
slicking and slipping micro-zones. ln
lig. 7, we can clearly idenlily lhe shear
slress disconlinuilies by remarking lhe
poinls A and 8 al 50 ol lhe slipping
load, and A' and 8' al lhe sliding
inilialion. The limil langenlial load is T =
!2 kN and corresponds lo an apparenl
lriclion coellcienl = 0.224.
||ure 6
|vo|u||on o| |he con|ac| area |or |he :|n|e
bo||ed jo|n|
||ure 7
5hear con|ac| :|re::e: a|on |he
|on||ud|na| ax|: o| |he jo|n|
ln order lo accounl lor lhe lacl lhal
lhe melallic parls ol a lriclion-grip
bolled conneclion are elasloplaslic, lhe
von Mises crilerion and a linear isolropic
hardening law wilh dillerenl malerial
paramelers are used lor lhe aluminium
inserl, slainless sleel washer and sleel
splice plale. The comparison presenled
in lig. 8 shows lhal elasloplaslicily has
an imporlanl impacl on lhe normal
conlacl slress dislribulions bul lhe
exlenl ol lhe conlacl zone remains
praclically lhe same in bolh cases.
|oub|e bo||ed connec||on
lor lhe double lriclion-grip bolled
conneclion shown in lig. 5, all lhe
melallic componenls are laken lo be
elasloplaslic and lo comply wilh lhe
von Mises crilerion and a linear isolropic
hardening rule. The considered clamping
lorces are Nlell = 93 kN lor lhe lell boll
and Nrighl = 97.52 kN lor lhe righl one.
The sliding is inilialed al lhe lell
boll lor an applied langenlial load T =
!8.9 kN. ln lig. 9, lhe corresponding
maximum principal slress dislribulions
on glass are given along lhe longiludinal
axis ol lhe joinl and lollowing hole
edges ol lhe lell and righl bolls.
||ure 3
|||ec|: o| e|a:|op|a:||c||y on |he norma|
con|ac| :|re:: d|:|r|bu||on:
||ure 9
|r|nc|pa| :|re:: max|mum d|:|r|bu-
||on on |a:: |or |he |e|| bo|| (up
and |he r|h| bo|| (down
4
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Comparisoh wiIh Ihe resulIs o!
real-size IesIs
The double bolled conneclion simulaled
by lnile elemenls melhod corresponds
lo lhe one shown in lig. !0 and lesled
al lhe Cenlre Scienlilque el Technique
du 8alimenl in lrance. The lhickness ol
lhe glass specimen is !9 mm and lhe
normal clamping load on lhe lell and
righl HS bolls are !85 kN and 2!0 kN,
respeclively. These values are oblained
wilh lhe help ol load cells placed under
lhe nul ol each boll.
The lesl indicales lhal lhe maximum
langenlial lorce lhe conneclion can
supporl belore sliding is Tlesl = !42
kN. On lhe olher hand, our numerical
simulalions predicl lhal lhe maximum
langenlial lorce which !/8 ol lhe
conneclion can bear is Tnum=!8.9
kN. So, lhe dillerence belween lhe
experimenlal and numerical resulls is
globally 6.
Al lhe local level, a crack is
experimenlally observed when lhe
maximum langenlial lorce is allained
(lig. !!). This crack is perpendicular lo
lhe langenlial loading direclion. On lhe
olher side, a peak value is numerically
oblained lor lhe maximum principal
slress lhal occurs on lhe edge ol lhe
hole and is normal lo lhe langenlial
loading direclion (poinl A in lig. 9). This
peak value represenls a severe increase
ol lhe maximum principal slress and
exceeds 75 MPa, i.e. 3.5 limes grealer
lhan ils value al lhe beginning ol lhe
langenlial loading. 8earing in mind lhal
glass is a brillle malerial governed by
lhe maximum lensile slress crilerion, il is
seen lhal our numerical simulalions can
explain and predicl lhe glass lraclure
experimenlally observed. lurlher, il is
inlerred lhal lhe lailure ol glass is nol
necessarily due lo lhe impacl ol a boll
againsl lhe relevanl glass hole surlace
aller sliding.
lrom lhe loregoing comparison,
we see lhal lhe numerical model
presenled in lhis paper is capable ol
correclly simulaling lhe global and
local behaviour ol lriclion-grip bolled
conneclions
ParameIric sIudy
Using lhe numerical model, a paramelric
sludy is realised lo oplimise lhe
mechanical behaviour ol lriclion-grip
bolled conneclions. ln parlicular, a
single bolled joinl is considered. The
purpose is lo evaluale lhe inluence ol
some geomelric paramelers (lisled in
lhe Table 3) on lhe maximum principal
slress in lhe glass and lo lnd lhe
oplimal conlguralion lor lhe bolled
joinl, such lhal lhe lensile slress in lhe
glass is minimal lor a given loading.
lndeed, as il was shown in lhe previous
seclion, lhe maximum principal slress in
lhe glass can locally reach, during lhe
sliding inilialion, very high values.
The geomelrical paramelers used
in our analysis are lhe inner diameler
and lhe lhickness ol lhe inserl and
splice, respeclively. Considering lwo
dillerenl values lor each parameler,
we have a lolal number ol !6 dillerenl
conlguralions. A clamping load N =
50 kN is applied lo lhe bolled joinl.
The varialions ol lhe peak values ol lhe
maximum principal slress wilh lhe inserl
inner and splice diamelers and lhe inserl
and splice lhicknesses are given in Table
2.
The imporlance ol a single or a
couple ol paramelers is analylically
evalualed by lhe mean ol a variance
||ure 10
1rac||on |e:| per|ormed on a rea|-:|ze doub|e
bo||ed connec||on
||ure 11
|xper|men|a| jo|n| |a||ure under |en:||e :|re::.
1he crac| |n|||a||on (enc|rc|ed |: |oca|ed perpen-
d|cu|ar|y |o |he :hear |oad|n d|rec||on (|nd|ca|ed
by |he arrow
1ab|e 2
|n|uence o| :ome eome|r|c
parame|er: on |he pea| va|ue
o| |he pr|nc|pa| :|re:: max|-
mum on |a::
analysis. A geomelric parameler is
considered as insignilcanl il lhe inler-
sample variance is equal lo lhe inlra-
sample one (laking inlo accounl all
lhe resulls). The laclor is considered
signilcanl when lhe inler-sample
variance is superior lo lhe inlra-sample
variance.
1ab|e J
|n|uence o| a :|n|e or coup|ed eome|r|c
parame|er:
ll is seen lhal among lhe considered
geomelric paramelers, lhose having
lhe mosl imporlanl ellecls on lhe
lensile slress concenlralion in lhe
glass are lhe inserl inner diameler and
lhickness and lhe splice lhickness.
lor example, increased by !00, lhe
splice lhickness reduces lhe maximum
principal slress in glass wilh aboul 30
and lhe same ellecl is noliced when
lhe inserl lhickness varies lrom 2 lo 4
mm. Al lhe same lime, increasing lhe
diameler ol lhe inserl hole is seen lo
diminish lhe lensile slress concenlralion,
while increasing lhe diameler ol lhe
splice hole has praclically no ellecl lor
lhe considered geomelry. The ellecl
ol coupling lwo laclors seems lo be
imporlanl when il is aboul lhe inserl
and splice diamelers or lhickness, less
lor lhe case ol lhe splice lhickness
5
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and ils diameler or lhe inserl lhickness
and lhe splice diameler and even
insignilcanl lor lhe coupling belween
lhe inserl diameler and lhe inserl
lhickness.
Cohclusiohs
The mechanical behaviour ol lriclion-
grip bolled conneclions in glass
slruclures has been sludied by a
coupled experimenlal and numerical
approach. The complexily ol lhe
mechanical phenomena lrealed is
mainly due lo lhe involvemenl ol
unilaleral conlacl and dry lriclion and
lo lhe use ol malerials (glass, sleel and
Re!erehces
! Alzori, 8., Lazzarin, P., and Quaresimin, M.
(!997). "A re-analysis on laligue dala ol
aluminium alloy bolled joinls." lnl. J. laligue,
!9(7), 579-588.
2 lerrero, J.l., Yelou, L., 8arrau, J.J., and
Pivallanl S. (2004). "Analysis ol a dry lriclional
problem under small displacemenls. applicalion
lo a bolled joinl." Wear, 256, !!35-!!43.
3 Johnson, K.L. (!985). Conlacl mechanics,
Cambridge Universily Press, Cambridge.
4 Panail A., He, Q.-C., Ami Saada, P., 8ary,
8., Cossavella, M., and Morcanl, K. (2004).
"Lxperimenlal invesligalion ol lhe lime-
dependenl dry lriclional behaviour ol glass and
aluminium." Wear, 257, 27!-278.
5 Spiers, P., and Cullimore, M.S.C. (!969).
"Traclion in lriclion-grip bolled joinls." lnl. J.
Mech. Sci., !!, 733-750.
aluminium) exhibiling a slriking conlrasl
belween brillleness and duclilily.
Numerical simulalions have been carried
oul while incorporaling lhe dala ol a
precise experimenlal characlerisalion ol
lriclion belween aluminium and glass.
The numerical resulls lhus oblained
have been compared wilh and validaled
by lhe laboralory lesls perlormed on
real-size slruclures. As a consequence ol
lhe work presenled above, an ellcienl
numerical lool is now available lor lhe
conceplion and oplimizalion ol lriclion-
grip bolled joinls in glass slruclures,
so making il possible lo increase lhe
reliabilily ol such slruclures.