A complete study of bearing stress in single bolt connections

• Tests on bolted bearing-type connections
• Comparison of mild steel and high strength steel connections
• Bearing strength at bolt holes compared to EN 1993-1-8 and modifications are proposed.
• Modifications to net cross-section and block shear EC3 rules are given.

The paper presents experiments on connections with one and two bolts made of mild steel grade S235. The results are compared with the tests on connections made of high strength steel. The test results are substantiated with numerical parametric analysis. The effect of bolt bearing is thoroughly analysed. The bearing strength at bolt holes according to standard EN 1993-1-8 is critically evaluated and a modified design check is proposed. The modified check is conceptually the same as the current one, but it is simpler, less conservative and it is in better correlation to the test results. The block shear strength and net cross-section strength are also discussed and modifications to the EN 1993 design rules are given.