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SHORTCUT TO CALCULATING THE VALUE OF
BOLT GROUP COEFFICIENT
In the design of Bolted Connection, calculating the Strength of a Bolt Group using I.C.
Method (Instantaneous Center of Rotation) is a nightmare for most engineers. The
process involves the determination of the value of ‘C’ that corresponds to the effective
number of bolts in a Bolt Group subjected to Eccentric Load. Having no closed-form
formula, the value of C is very infuriating to calculate; it requires the use of tables
(Tables 7-7 ~ 7-14 in AISC 13th Edition) provided for by AISC Steel Construction
Manual. The use of these tables to determine the value of C offers both ease and
difficulty. The process becomes difficult when search values do not concur with the
values on the tables – requiring designers to resort to ‘inaccurate’ linear interpolation.
Over a long period of time, in almost daily basis, I have struggled using this apparently
crude method in my design work. In my desire to make my job much simpler and easier,
I wrote Visual Basic Code (VBA) and finally solved the problem on finding the value of
C without the use of tables. The program code is based on the discussion on pages 7-6 to
7-8 of AISC Steel Construction Manual 13th Edition. If you are a user of SteelPro’s
‘Connection Design Section’ (as shown), the code that does the calculation of Bolt Group
Coefficient is the very same Visual Basic Code below. The code maybe embedded into
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your Excel Workbook and recognized by Excel as user function -- behaving like any
other excel built-in mathematical functions that calculate values in response to user’s
input. With the code implemented to your spreadsheet, all you have to do is to supply the
necessary function arguments into assigned cells in your spreadsheet. Finally, you get rid
of the cumbersome use of Bolt Coefficient Tables.
For complete instructions on how to embed the VBA Code into your Workbook, please
visit my very young blog:
[Link]
[Link]
VBA Code for Calculating the Value of Effective Bolt Coefficient
Option Explicit
Type BoltInfo
Dv As Double
Dh As Double
End Type
'''Effective Bolt Coefficient
Function BoltCoefficient(Bolt_Row As Integer, Bolt_Column As Integer,
Row_Spacing As Double, Column_Spacing As Double, Eccentricity As
Double, Optional Rotation As Double = 0) As Double
Dim i, k, n As Integer
Dim mP, vP, Ro As Double
Dim Mo, Fy As Double
Dim xi, yi As Double
Dim Ri, x1 As Double
Dim y1, Rot As Double
Dim Rn, iRn As Double
Dim Rv, Rh As Integer
Dim Sh, Sv As Double
Dim Ec As Double
Dim Delta, Rmax As Double
Dim BoltLoc() As BoltInfo
Dim Stp As Boolean
Dim J As Double
Dim FACTOR As Double
Rv = Bolt_Row
Rh = Bolt_Column
Sv = Row_Spacing
Sh = Column_Spacing
ReDim BoltLoc(Rv * Rh - 1)
On Error Resume Next
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Rot = Rotation * 3.14159265358979 / 180
Ec = Eccentricity * Cos(Rot)
If Ec = 0 Then GoTo ForcedExit
n = 0
For i = 0 To Rv - 1
For k = 0 To Rh - 1
y1 = (i * Sv) - (Rv - 1) * Sv / 2
x1 = (k * Sh) - (Rh - 1) * Sh / 2
With BoltLoc(n)
.Dv = x1 * Sin(Rot) + y1 * Cos(Rot) '''Rotate Vertical
Coordinate
.Dh = x1 * Cos(Rot) - y1 * Sin(Rot) '''Rotate
Horizontal Coordinate
End With
n = n + 1
Next
Next
Rn = 74 * (1 - Exp(-10 * 0.34)) ^ 0.55
Ro = 0: Stp = False
Do While Stp = False
Rmax = 0
For i = 0 To Rv * Rh - 1
xi = BoltLoc(i).Dh + Ro
yi = BoltLoc(i).Dv
Rmax = [Link](Rmax, Sqr(xi ^ 2 +
yi ^ 2))
Next
Mo = 0: Fy = 0
mP = 0: vP = 0
J = 0
For i = 0 To Rv * Rh - 1
xi = BoltLoc(i).Dh + Ro
yi = BoltLoc(i).Dv
Ri = Sqr(xi ^ 2 + yi ^ 2)
Delta = 0.34 * Ri / Rmax
iRn = 74 * (1 - Exp(-10 * Delta)) ^ 0.55
Mo = Mo + (iRn / Rn) * Ri
'''Moment
Fy = Fy + (iRn / Rn) * Abs(xi / Ri) * Sgn(xi)
'''Vertical
J = J + Ri ^ 2
Next
mP = Mo / (Abs(Ec) + Ro)
vP = Fy
Stp = Abs(mP - vP) <= 0.0001
FACTOR = J / (Rv * Rh * Mo)
Ro = Ro + Abs(mP - vP) * FACTOR / 2
DoEvents
Loop
BoltCoefficient = (mP + vP) / 2
Exit Function
ForcedExit:
BoltCoefficient = Rv * Rh
End Function
