Reliability analysis of welded and bolted connections in cold-formed steel sections

Abstract This article shows a study of the level of reliability of welded and bolted connections in cold formed steel members, for some limiting states, adopted by AISI and Brazilian codes. The aim of this study is the assessment of the reliability index β for a variation of the nominal live-to-dead load ratios as well as comparison of the value found considering different load combinations. The first order reliability method is used to calculate the reliability index β. In this study, reliability indices smaller than 3.5 were obtained, especially for bolted connections. Consideration of the model errors and FORM method, lead to significant reductions in reliability indices, which are found to be less than the recommended target reliability levels.