PERIODIC BOLT PLACEMENT IN STEEL STRUCTURES FOR GUIDED DAMAGE DETECTION

Connections form the weakest link in structural systems. Bolted connections are especially susceptible to stress corrosion cracking due to stress-riser points at the bolt edges and the intrusion of water between plates leading to galvanic corrosion. Bolts are conventionally placed based on minimum and maximum spacing requirements guided by American Institute of Steel Construction. Unfortunately, the detectability of crack and corrosion is currently not a design variable. In this study, bolts are placed in periodic pattern such that they exhibit unique frequency response. The periodic placement allows modeling only unit cell in the shape of hexagon with periodic boundary conditions to obtain the frequency response. When damage occurs, the periodic pattern is broken, and the frequency response behavior changes. The influence of crack to vibration modes is numerically modeled, and the damage detection ability with unique bolt placement is demonstrated. It is shown that the spatial distribution of bolt can assist the damage detection ability, which should be considered as a criterion in the design of bolted connections.