Behavior of Bolted Joints of Cable-Braced Grid Shells

The type of joint used is important with respect to the behavior of grid shells. Prototype static experiments and numerical analyses were conducted to study the mechanical behaviors of a new type of joint: bolted joints of cable-braced grid shells. The actions of the bending moment, the shear force, and the axial force were all considered in static experiments and numerical analyses of the bolted joints of cable-braced grid shells. To evaluate the in-plane and out-of-plane bending stiffness and the strength of the bolted joints, the behaviors of the bolted joints were compared with those of rigid joints. The main conclusions are as follows. First, the failure of bolted joints results from either buckling at the end of the tube or fracturing of the bolts. The failure of rigid joints results from buckling at the end of the tube. The failure of bolted joints without steel shims results from the fracturing of the bolts. Second, bolted joints can be considered to be out-of-plane, semirigid joints and in-plane, pinned joints. The use of steel shims greatly improved the static behavior of the bolted joints, and the shims changed the transferring path of the axial force on the bolted joints. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.