Development of Layout Factor for Mechanical Shear Joints Using Finite Element Analysis

Analysis of the mechanical shear joints involves many variables like bolt size, number of bolts and their arrangement, flange thickness, number of members and loading condition. The work presented in this paper is concerned with the effect of fastener layout on the joint behavior. Different configurations having varying number of fasteners were analyzed using finite element analysis. The numerical simulation results were used to develop a layout effect prediction tool and to compare the load sharing by the critical bolt in the fastener arrangement. The idea to develop a tool in terms of geometric parameters for design optimization and quick calculation is not new. The proposed prediction was found to be quite effective in comparing various layouts for the same number of bolts having equal spacing with non-eccentric loading