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Cost Comparison of Bolted and Welded Frame Joints

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Abstract

Considering a braced frame structure, a double-sided beam-to-column connection is investigated. The joint is loaded by two equal and opposite bending moments. In the case of a rigid welded joint the beam is designed for a known maximum bending moment. Since the angle deformation of a semi-rigid bolted connection decreases the maximum bending moment, for this version a smaller beam section is selected and, calculating the rotational stiffness, is verified for the same uniformly distributed normal load. Because the rotational stiffness depends on many parameters, the problem can be handled by a numerical example only. The main aim is to show a detailed calculation of semirigid connections. To perform this calculation, cost data from Great Britain and South Africa are used. The example shows differences in costs of bolted and welded versions. This is caused partly by the material and partly by fabrication cost differences.

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Farkas, J., Jármai, K. & Visser-Uys, P. Cost Comparison of Bolted and Welded Frame Joints. Weld World 47, 12–18 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03266373

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