compurers & stnccrures Vol. 61, No. 5, pp. 967-974.

1996
Copyright 6 1996 Else&r Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0045.7949/96 SIS.00 + 0.00

PII: soo45-7949(96)ooo83-1

FINITE

ELEMENT STUDIES FOR CORRELATION

WITH BLOCK SHEAR TESTS
H, I, Epstein and R. Cha~~aj~gar

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Connecticut, 261 Glenbrook Road, U-37, Stem,
CT 06269-3037, U.S.A.
Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas, San Francisco, CA 94107, U.S.A.
(Received 4 March 1994)

AI&r&--Tests of angles in tension have produced block shear failures for certain ~nn~tion geometries.
Finite element investigations have previously shown that the mode of faiiure can be exhibited analytically
and have also helped to design future testing. This study attempts to give credence to trends previously
predicted from actual block shear tests by comparing nondimensionalized finite element results with the
results of the full scale testing. The effect of the outstanding leg, shear length and stagger are compared
in this study. Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

XNTRODUCTION

Finite element studies can be an extremely useful tool

when used in conjunction with an experimental testing
program. A parametric finite element computer study
was successfully employed for preliminary studies
of block shear failure for angles in tension [l]. These
studies helped in the design of a full scale testing
program for angles which were connected by only one
leg and had bolts in two gage lines on that leg [2,3].
One of the interesting results obtained from both the
experimental and the computer study was the effect
that bolt stagger has upon the tensile failure load of
angles. A finite element study was also accomplished
[4] which helped to understand the effect of the bolt
stagger by considering gage and stagger spacing on
flat plate finite element models. This study reinforced
some of the conclusions reached from the analysis
of the experimental results for angles. The flat plate
was studied because of the difficulty in separating the
effects of stagger and shear lag.
The so-called shear lag effect occurs in connections
such as these angles because load is not always
uniformly transferred from a tension member to its
connection by all its cross-sectional elements (i.e.
the legs of an angle, flanges and web of a W section,
etc.). The shear lag effect can significantly reduce the
capacity of a tension member. The strengths of the
angles studied in the block shear experiments were
defi~tely infhrenced by this shear lag which, in reality,
is due to the effects of bending present as the results
of loading eccentricity [5]. While current design codes
such as AISCs ASD [6] and LRFD [7] do incorporate
a shear lag correction, none is included for block
shear failure nor is the stagger effect of bolt geometry
included in the codes for block shear failures.
967

The finite element studies reported in this presentation were accomplished upon completion of the
experimental program on angles [2,3]. It should be
emphasized here that any finite element predictions
of load are strongly tied to failure criteria, boundary
conditions and the other parameters in the modeling
of the problem. However, relative results obtained
from finite element studies, such as this study are
useful barometers of various parametric effects.
The primary reason for the experimental and all
these finite element studies was the concern that
current steel design codes do not adequately handle
connections of this type. The results of this current
study help to reinforce some of the effects of various
parameters that were found experimentally and
add credence to some of the previously suggested
code ~ommen~tions
[2,3]. Furthe~ore,
this finite
element program can be used with some confidence
to help extrapolate results beyond the restrictions
of the testing program and to design additional tests,
where required.
THE FINITE ELEVEN

MODEL

Nonlinear analysis

The nonlinear finite element discretization in

structural problems leads to an equation of the type
f(q) = K(q) * q - g = 0,

(1)

where q is a vector of unknown displacements, g is the

vector of applied loads and K is the stiffness matrix.
Nonlinearities usually arise from either geometry
or material considerations. Among the former are
large deflections, stress stiffening, contacting surfaces
and buckling. Creep and nonlinear elastic behavior

968

H. I. Epstein and R. Chamarajanagar

are forms of material nonlinearities. The material

nonlinearity is considered in this study.
The finite element model requires a defining of the
geometry, boundary supports, materials and loading.
The finite element model to be used may be influenced
by the type of results desired. If the variation of
stresses and strains are an order of magnitude apart
from the variation of displacements, a model which
accurately predicts displacements may not do well
with stresses and vice versa. In models where complete stress patterns, including concentrations, may
be required, a three-dimensional
element may be
appropriate even though the structure consists of
relatively flat elements. Furthermore, it is always wise
to match the mesh refinement to the stress gradients
and deformation patterns. This means that elements
must vary in size, but have aspect ratios within
acceptable ranges (usually approximately 3 : 1 for
stresses and 1O:l for displacements). Modeling for
stresses near regions with holes and cutouts requires
mesh refinement in order to predict peak stresses at
the holes. All of these considerations were taken into
account in establishing the finite element model.
The finite element program used for this study
was COSMOS/M. It is a package that performs
an incremental solution to the equations of motion
involving large deformations and material nonlinearities. For this study, the nonlinearity was due
to the material only and the elasto-plastic von Mises
yield criterion was adopted. In particular, the
material was perfectly plastic above the assumed yield
of 36 ksi (corresponding to A36 steel) with other
properties consistent with steel.
Element geometry
The grid used around a hole is shown in Fig. la.
Figure lb shows how the grids around the holes were
typically patched together and Fig. lc shows the
grid for a complete model. For simplicity, the grids
around the holes are shown as square. For the actual
studies, they conformed to whatever rectangular
dimensions were required.
Previous experimentally tested geometries [2,3] are
used in this finite element study. Table 1 shows the
results for 114 connections tested (three each of
the 38 geometries listed). The angle sizes are listed as
the length of the connected leg (L, in Fig. 1) followed
by the length of the outstanding leg (L2) and the
thickness of the legs of the angle (t in Fig. 2).
Standard gage distances (g, and g, in Fig. 1) as given
by AISC [6,7] are used for all models and the
holes were all for 3 in diameter bolts. This diameter
corresponds to an edge distance (d in Fig. 1) of
1.5 in and a usual pitch (2s in Figure 1) of 3 in. These
dimensions for d and s are used throughout this
investigation. All the finite element studies used a
model length of 30 in, as shown in Fig. 1.
The connection geometries in Table 1 have a
notation giving the number of holes for bolts in the
outer gage line followed by the number of holes in

fd=l.!Y
I 2s=3

F
(4

Fig. 1. Finite element grid around holes and some of the

parameters of the investigation.
the inner gage line and the sign of the stagger. The
convention adopted for the sign of the stagger is
shown in Fig. 2. The included angle in the potential
block shear path shown as a in Fig. 2 is used in
specifying the stagger sign. The connection is said to
have a positive stagger if this angle is greater than W,
negative stagger if less than 90 and zero if equal to
90. It can then be seen that the connection geometry
shown in Fig. 1 is 2/2+. This corresponds to connection numbers 1, 9, 17, 25, 29 or 33, depending
upon the size of the angle (L, and L,). AISC
codes [6,7] present an s2/4g correction for stagger
when dealing with net tension failure, but do not as
yet explicitly deal with stagger effects when dealing
with block shear.

Element type
The MODSTAR module of COSMOS has a
relatively comprehensive set of elements with which
to perform nonlinear analyses. The loading on the
angles in this study, which are connected by only one
leg, results in eccentricities which produce bending
and twisting about the centroidal axis of the member.
This eliminated the possibility of using plane stress
elements. Since one of the objectives of this study was
to compare stresses at points where strain gages were
used (sometimes on both sides of the angles) a solid
element was adopted. The element and its coordinate
system used in this study are shown in Fig. 3.
Boundary conditions
The model fixed the top half of each hole. This
was decided upon after many preliminary results [8],

Studies for correlation with block shear tests

969

Table 1. Connection designations, geometry and results

including the results of previous investigators and the

performance of tested connections. The experimental
specimens showed little deformation of the upper

half of each hole. Since the primary objective of this

finite element study was to correlate analysis wi.th a
corresponding experiment, the incorporation oft hese
fixed boundaries was deemed appropriate.
Failure criteria

POSITIVE
(a>90)

NEGATIVE
(a<907
Fig. 2. Sign of the stagger.

ZERO
(a=90)

Another important question to be addressed was

the criteria to be used in comparing the failure of
models representing the various geometries studied.
All the experiments had their failure initiate at the
outside edge of the connected leg adjacent to the lead
bolt on the outer gage, as shown in Fig. 2. The failure
criteria used in this study was the longitudinal strain
at this point. Longitudinal displacements of two

H. I. Epstein and R. Chamarajanagar

to help with the computational
model length was adopted.

Face
Number for

efficiency, the 30in

RESULTS OF THE FINITE ELEMENT STUDIES

Global Cartesian Coordinate

SySteI77

Z
Fig. 3. Element and its coordinate system.
nodes, 1 in on either side of the failure initiation point
(see Fig. lb), were used in calculating the strain.
Strains varying from twice the yield through five
times the yield were investigated in the preliminary
studies. While every strain level produced different
numerical results, the nondimensional
parametric
variations produced similar trends regardless of the
failure strain level adopted [S]. Only the results corresponding to strains five times the yield are reported
in this presentation.
The way in which the numerical values, corresponding to a given failure strain criteria, were found
was by interpolation of the strains found for the
inputted loads. The loads input into the analysis were
determined by first finding the load corresponding
to yield. This required only an elastic analysis. The
nonlinear analysis used this load as a first step and
then the load was increased in 10% increments of this
initial yield load. The program was halted when the
calculated strain exceeded the failure criteria.
Load application

Another important question to be addressed was

how the load should be applied and a related issue,
the appropriate length for the finite element model.
Preliminary studies [S] used two different loadings,
one uniform over the connected leg only, as shown in
Fig. lb, and the second uniform load over the entire
cross section, Fig. Id. Consistently, finite element
results corresponding to loading only the connected
leg were much closer to agreeing with those previously
obtained experimentally [S]. As will be discussed in
the results section to follow, this agrees with previous
analytical as well as experimental results. As far as
the length of the model is concerned, some of the
experimental strain gage results indicated that the
length of the specimen had little effect. Consequently,

The fifth column in Table 1 shows the results of

the experimental investigation of the 38 connection
geometries of this investigation. Each of these 38
loads represents the average of three specimens made
from the same material, having the ultimate strength
F, indicated in the table. In order to study the
effects of varying geometric parameters, these loads
were first divided by ultimate strength in an effort to
account for varying material properties.
The connections tested had either a six inch
connected leg (connections numbers l-24) or a 5 in
connected leg (25-38). To eliminate the effect of
this parameter, each of these groups is investigated
separately. Then, to first investigate the effects of
the outstanding leg, the failure loads were nondimensionalized
by setting the equal leg angle
geometries (6 x 6 or 5 x 5) to one and comparing
the other connections to the corresponding equal
leg angle with the same connection geometry. The
results of this process are shown in the sixth column
of Table 1. No entry is made for the last two connections since there are no others to compare them
with. The seventh column shows the results of the
finite element studies nondimensionalized in the same
manner, except that there was no material variation.
The outstanding leg

Figures 4 and 5 show the comparisons of

experimental and finite element results for the eight
different connection
geometries investigated for
angles with 6 in connected legs. Figure 6 presents the
same comparison for the four different connection
geometries having 5 in connected legs.
It is not the intent here to discuss the perceived
reasons for the trends in the effect of the length of the
outstanding legs. This has been thoroughly discussed
in previous work [2,3,5] and was shown to be the
result of the eccentricity of the loading with reference
to the centroid of the angle. This produces bending
in the angle in addition to the tension, and explains
the shape of the majority of the graphs in Figs 4-6.
What is important in this study is the close relationship in the trends shown for the finite element studies
compared to the experimental results. When the scale
of the vertical axes in these figures is noted, there is
not much difference.
The shear length

To see the effect that shear length has on failure,

it is necessary to identify those connections where
only this variable changes. In some of the cases
shown, there is also a change in the sign of the
stagger, but this makes no difference in the code
treatment [6,7]. Table 2 shows the comparison of
experimental results with those from the current finite

971

Studies for correlation with block shear tests

2/2 - CONNECTIONS

212 + CONNECTIONS

r\. .

1.16

1.1
I

lj
R

1.06

y+-.___
---__-*-__

E
b
ii

0.96
!
T
l

\I-.

#
3

0.96 T
1

0.9 -

0.86
3

OUTSTANDING LEO

212 0 CONNECTIONS

213 - CONNECTIONS

1.1

1.16

p-._
----___
A.
:

1.1

1.06

:,
R
E

ij

---___

1.06

--__

ii

D
0.98
:
T
l
0

OUTSTANDINQ LEO

I
:
R

LXpWlmWlt-* Clnll*Element

0.86
3

1.16

0.9 -

0.96

!
T
l

0.9

._ ,.

0.9

0
0.86

Expdnwlt

-*

Plnlt~

Elom~nt

0.86

OUTSTANDINQ LEG

OUTSTANDING LEG

Fig. 4. Comparison of four of the connection geometries for a 6 in connected leg, but varying length of
the outstanding leg.

study. The conclusions of the previous

studies are reinforced by these results which show
that shear length is being appropriately accounted
for in the code equations.
element

Stagger

The current codes account for stagger of holes

in a tension failure, with the long-standing correction

s2/4g (both these parameters were previously shown

in Fig. 2). Several sets of connections in the experimental study differed only by either having stagger
where another did not or both having stagger, but
of different sign (as defined in Fig. 2). For instance,
connections 3 and 1 both have a 6 in connected leg
and a shear length on the block shear path of

972

H. I. Epstein and R. Chamarajanagar

213

312 + CONNECTIONS

0 CONNECTIONS

1.161

1.1

0.66

t
0.0

0.66'

OUTSTANDINQ LEG

Exporhmnt

PlnlC

thmmt

I
6

OUTSTANDING LEO

4/4

313 0 CONNECTIONS

0 CONNECTIONS

lei6
r-----

1.16

.
-+

1.1

1.1

I
:
R

1.06

E
k

t
* *.
\,

L_____ --__
---___

D
0.66
i

T
l
0

0.0
4

0.66

Exporlmont

-+

Phlh Elwn0nt
6

0.66'

OUTSTANDINQ LEG

OUTSTANDING LEO

Fig. 5. Comparison of the remaining four connection geometries for a 6 in connected leg.

4.5 in. Connection

3, however,

has no stagger

in

the block shear path whereas 1 does. As such,

once the varying material strengths are factored
out, as previously described, connection 1 should
be stronger if the s2/4g addition to the tensile length
is appropriate.
It should be noted that the codes do not mention

block shear paths with stagger. Authors of current

texts and reference materials which address the
problem (e.g. Ref. [9]) think it reasonable to include
this factor. When included, the code equations give
that connection 1 is 5.2% stronger than 3. The same
ratio is true for 9/l 1 and 17/19. The experiments
gave an average of a 1.7% increase and the current

913

Studies for correlation with block shear tests

Z/2

212 - CONNECTIONS

CONNECTIONS

1.16

1.1s

1.1

i
:
R

:
R

1.06

1.06

l5

::

6
0.96

0.96

3
1

1.1

R
A
T

0.9 I-

1
0

0
0.86 i2

0.9
-+

Fhlb thmmt

LEQ

3/Z + CONNECTIONS
1.16

1.15

1.1

:
I

!YJ
R 1.06

:
R

E
k

1.1

1.06

0.96

0.M
!

T
1
0

OUTSTANDIN

Z/3 - CONNECTIONS

ij

-*

0.86
3

OUTSTANDING LEG

:
I

ExperlmwU

!z

0.9

0.86

OUTSTANDINQ LEG

0.86
2

OUTSTANDING LEG

Fig. 6. Comparison of the four connection geometries for a 5 in connected leg, but varying length of the
outstanding leg.

finite element study a 3.2% decrease(two of the three

connections produced a decrease). These results are
shown in Table 3.
There were seven sets of connections, indicated in
Table 3, which differed only in the sign of the stagger.
Codes do not recognize the sign of the stagger as

being signi~cant.
The experiment and the finite
element studies both produced an increase, as shown
in the table. Three sets differed only in that stagger
went from zero to negative. The code equations give
a 4.0% increase whereas the experiment and finite
element results both show a decrease. Eleven of the

974

H. I. Epstein and R. Chamarajanagar

Table 2. Comoarison of comections

differing onfg in

shear length
96 increase
Ixp*rlnlsn FS,h 5,.
7--i

+12.9%

5
+30.0%

+22.8%
(aver0

;.-

l_-.

#33

#35

Average of all 11

+23.0%
(averaL

leg. As a designer, if faced with the choice of which

connection to choose, there would appear to be con-

flicting parametric effects. According to the results

herein and the experimental studies, the longer the
shear path, the higher the block shear load. Connection 2 has a 6 in shear path compared to a 4.5 in
path for 1. On the other hand, connection 2 having
negative stagger compared to the positive stagger of
1 should produce a weaker connection. As it turns
out, both experimentally and from the finite element
results, the increase in shear length outweighs the
decrease in the stagger.
There are 13 sets of connections having the same
number of bolts and the same size connected leg. The
experiments gave all 13 connections producing higher
loads for the increased shear length connections, once
material strengths are considered. The finite element
results [8] reinforce this conclusion. Therefore, once
the number of bolts are selected for a short connection
where block shear is a distinct possibility, the designer
should choose the pattern maximi~ng shear length.

t ___

;24.04btr15.5%!

SUMMARY

1.

Table 3. Comparison of connections differing only in

stagger
.eg

-_..

#ll

Connections
-

1% increase
w&..*. 11LEl
I-d

#3

CONCLUSIONS

The finite element results presented herein are very

encouraging. The conclusions of the effect of various
parameters, reported in previous experimental work,
have indeed been supported by these studies. Even
though there is still much room for improvement
in the finite element modeling and failure criteria,
the relative values obtained appear to he good trend
indicators. Confidence is therefore obtained in using

#19

such studies to extrapolate beyond the range of

variables used in an experimental program.

#2
6

AND

#lO
#18
REFERENCES
I. H, I. Epstein and B. H. Tbacker, The effect of bolt

2.

3.

#7

4.

#15

#23

5.

i
13 sets of connections, which differ only by stagger,
support the observations of the previous experimental
and finite element studies [l-3] that the sign of the
stagger appears to be an important consideration in
any correction factor used to predict the effect of
stagger.
Which connection

to choose

Connection 1 (2/2+) and connection 2 (2/2-) differ

only in the arrangement of the holes on the connected

stagger for block shear tension failure in angles. Camput.

Srruct. 39, 571-576 (1991).
N. S. Adidam, Analysis of block shear experiments for
structural steel angles in tension. M.S. thesis, University
of Connecticut, CT (1990).
H. I. Epstein, An experimental study of block shear
failure of angles in tension. AISC Engng J. 29, 75-84
(1992).
H. I. Epstein and F. S. Gulia, Finite element studies of
bolt stagger effects in tension members. Comput. Strut?.
48, 1153-I 156 (1993).
H. I. Epstein and N. S. Adidam, The effect of eccentric
tension of the block shear failure of angles. in: Adounces
in Structural Testing, Analysis and Design, ICSTAD
Proc., Bangalore, India, Vol. 2, pp. 758-763. (1990).

6. American institute of Steel Construction, Manual of

Steel Construction, Allowable Stress Design, 9th edn.

AISC, C&ago,

IL (1989).

7. American institute of Steel Construction, Manuul of

Steel Construction, Load and Resistance Factor Design,
1st

edn. AISC, Chicago, IL (1986).

Finite element studies for the
correlation of stresses and failures of block shear tests.
M.S. thesis, University of Connecticut, CT (1990).
9. J. A. Yura, Eiements for Teaching Load and Resistance
Factor Design. AISC, Chicago, IL (1988).
8. R. Chamarajanagar,