Effects of Assembly Tolerances on Bolted Anchorages in Concrete

Abstract

The performance of concrete anchors located close to a free edge and loaded in shear toward the edge of a concrete member is influenced by several geometric and structural/material parameters. In the case of anchor groups, the behavior of the system is described by highly nonlinear mechanical procedures, due to the interaction with anchors in vicinity. Apart from that, the existence of constructional tolerances (i.e., hole clearance of the bolted connection) leads to randomness in the distribution of the group load to the individual components, thus to uncertainties in the expected resistance of the anchorage. In that context, the structural effects of assembly tolerances have not yet been adequately investigated. As a result, current design guidelines are based on extreme-case concepts, thus often leading to a partial utilization of fastening systems. In the present study, it is attempted to capture the performance of the discussed structural system focusing on the influence of assembly tolerances by means of a stochastic approach.