Parametric study on the behaviour of bolted composite connections

The studied connections are composed of concrete filled steel tubes (CFT) connected to composite beams by passing through bolts, endplates and steel deck, which also contributes to support the applied loads. The parametric analysis presented in this work is based on numerical simulations performed with software TNO Diana, using experimental results to calibrate the reference numerical model. The influence of three main parameters, being them the bolts diameter, the slab height and the beams cross section, was evaluated. According to the obtained bending moment versus rotation curves, it was concluded that, among the three parameters analyzed, the most important one was the bolts diameter. About the beams cross section, inconclusive results were achieved, probably due to the incompatibility between the 16 mm bolts and the robust beam cross sections considered in the parametric analysis.