prying action absorbs about 20-40% of the anchor bolt capacity.

The coefficient is then calculated as follows: d = 1 sh

p

(44)

where: s p = bolt pitch as defined in Fig. 21 The designer should then select a preliminary plate thickness in the following range:

The value of previously calculated in equation (46) does not have to equal the value of calculated from equation (48) as the former assumes the bolts to be loaded to their full tensile capacity. It interesting to note how equation (48) provides an estimate of the prying action present in the base plate. a2 a1 N* t tc a3 a4 N* t

where: K=

KN * b t i KN * b 1+

(45)

4a 310 3 f yis p

=
(where f yi is in MPa)

= = = = =
sp sp

a 3 = a 1 d f2 + t c N* b = design axial tension load carried by one bolt N* = nt b d f = nominal anchor bolt diameter The value of represents the ratio of the bending moment per unit width of plate at the bolt line to the bending moment per unit width at the inner hogging plastic hinge. In the case of a rigid base plate is equal to 0 while for a flexible base plate with plastic hinges forming at both the bolt line and at the inner face of the column (see Fig. 21) is equal to 1. From equilibrium, the value for preliminary base plate layout is calculated as follows: =

Figure 21 Packer-Birkemoe Model (Ref. [36]) 5.2.5. Eurocode 3 Model (H-shaped sections with varying number of bolts)

KN tf 1 t2 i

a 2 + d f2 (a 2 + a 1 + t c)

(46)

The Eurocode 3 does not provide a specific design procedure for the design of base plates subject to tension. Nevertheless it provides very useful guidelines for the design of bolted beam-to-column connections (Appendix J.3 of [23]) which can be adapted for the design of base plates considering all anchor bolts as bolts on the tension side of the beam-to-column connection. The design of the end plate or of the column flange of the beam-to-column connection is carried out in terms of equivalent T-stubs as shown in Fig. 22. e m 0.8a 2 a e m tf l

should be taken as 0 if its value calculated with equation (46) is negative. The capacity of the steel base plate is then calculated as follows: N t = t2 (1 + )n b i K (47) e min e m 0.8r r

where: N t = axial tension capacity of the base plate N t calculated with equation (47) must be greater than N* t . The actual tension in one bolt, including prying effects, is determined as follows: a N* t N* 1 + a3 b n 4 1 + b where: =

tf e min

(48)

KN * t 1 1 t2 n b i

a 4 = min 1.25a 1, a 2 +

Figure 22 T-stub connection in EC3 (Ref. [23])

EC3 considers that the capacity of a T-stub may be governed by the resistence of either the flange, or the bolts, or the web or the weld between flange and web of T-stub. The failure modes considered are three as shown in Fig. 23. The axial capacity is calculated as follows:

df 2

15

STEEL CONSTRUCTION VOLUME 36 NUMBER 2 SEPT 2002