CHAPTER 2

Design Tension Members

2.1 Introduction

Those elements of structures that carry tension are termed as tension members. Tension members
may be bottom-chords and some of web members of roof and bridge trusses, secondary members
(tie rods) in truss bracing or, members of tower trusses, members of wind bracing system of multi
story buildings, hangers for suspended roof structures of large span, and etc.
Sections used by tension members are solid bars, wires & cables for hangers; solid bars & single
angles for secondary bracing members of trusses; single-angles, double angles, tees, channels,
flanged sections & built-up sections made of plates or rolled shapes for truss members. Structural
tees used satisfactorily for tension members of welded trusses because web-members can
conveniently be connected to them. If connections of members are made by welding, tubular
sections can be used for tension members of roof trusses.
Some of the various type of tension members in general use is illustrated as shown below.

Round, square & rectangular bars Angles Double angles Structural tee W- or S-sections Channels

Box-section built-up Box-section built-up Built-up channels

Built-up angles Built-up angles
of channels of angles section
section section

2.2 Design of Tension Members using Working Stress Method

It is simple to design tension member as there is no problem of stability (plate buckling, side
buckling or warping). However, specifications will require a minimum amount of member
stiffness for esthetic and safety reasons (there may be reversal stresses and sagging due to
weight). Design of tension members is made preventing any failure of sections cased by applied
load along gross area and net area through fasteners holes. Thus, the required area of tension
member that prevent any failure is determined by limiting tensile stress developed in member
section due applied load to the allowable tensile stress of steel. Then, a section is selected from
tables of rolled sections with area slightly greater than the required area obtained from design
equation of tension member.
Member consisting of more than one section need to be tied together by tie-bars located at various
intervals. But, these tie-bars are not to be considered to increase the effective areas of the sections.
As they do not theoretically carry portion of the force in the main section, their sizes are usually
governed by specification.

Allowable tensile stress of structural steel according to AISC as follow:

1) To prevent yielding failure in gross section by excessive elongation of bolted/riveted or welded

connected member,
Fa 0.6 Fy F
Where y --yield strength of steel
Therefore, the required gross area of tension member is obtained by
T
Ag
0 .6 F y

1 Chapt.-2: Design of Axial-force members by Haftom G.

2) Since length of bolted/riveted joint is short compared to the length of member, strain hardening
situation is quickly reached at the net-section portion of member before yielding and failure
commence by fracture through fasteners holes. To prevent fracture failure in net-section through
fasteners holes of bolted/riveted connected member,
Fa 0.5Fu Where Fu --ultimate tensile strength of steel
Therefore, the required net-area of tension member considering fasteners holes is obtained by
T
An
0.5 Fu
3) To prevent block-shear failure and shear-rupture, the allowable strength of bolted/riveted
connected tension member are specified as follows:

T R BS (0.3Fu ) . Av (0.5 Fu ) . At
Block-shear:
Shear-rupture: Fv 0.3Fu

4) For design of pin-connected members, allowable tensile stress of steel,

Fa 0.45 Fy
and, the required gross area of pin-connected members is obtained by
T
Ag
0.45Fy
Allowable tensile stress of steel according to AASHTO,
Fa 0.55Fy
--on gross section
Fa 0.46 Fu --on net section

2.3 Net Area of Section

Holes are required if any two members are connected by rivets or bolts. The holes reduce the
effective area of cross-section and the section passing through the holes will develop a non-
uniform stress distribution. Therefore, the critical section through fasteners holes used for design
is obtained by reducing area lost by fasteners holes from the gross area of tension member.
i.e (Net area) = (Gross area) (area lost by fasteners holes)
Since area lost by one hole is rectangular with area equals d . t , net-area for critical section
passing through a number of holes is obtained as,
An Ag (n . d . t ) A 0.85 A
and, AISC specification also requires that n g
.
Where t thickness of plates where hole (fasteners) is passing
n number of holes (fasteners) at the critical section
d diameter of holes (1.5mm & 3mm larger than diameter of fastener if hole is made by
drilling & punching, respectively)
For illustration, consider two tension members made of plates connected by two fasteners in two
rows as shown below. 1

1
t

2 Chapt.-2: Design of Axial-force members by Haftom G.

 Net-area along section 1-1 passing through fastener holes along straight path is given by,
An Ag 2d . t
If more than one row of fastener holes in a member, it is often desirable to stagger them in order
to provide as large net area as possible at any section to resist the load. The net-area of section
along staggered critical path is obtained based on the procedure given by Cochrane. The
procedure is as follows:
1) Take any possible critical path across a chain of holes and deduct one hole-width for each hole
encountered.
2) For each change in direction from one hole to the next hole, add back the quantity of width,
s 2 4g .
Where, s pitch or longitudinal distance between adjacent holes
g gage distance between adjacent holes across the width
Therefore, the net-area of a section with staggered critical path passing through holes is given as,
s2
An Ag n . d . t t .
4g
Where, --indicates number of change in direction along staggered path
A 0.85 A
and, AISC specification also requires that n g
.
For illustration, consider two tension members made of plates connected by three fasteners as
shown below. s1
t
A

B g1
C D g2

F F E
s2
2 2
s1 s
An Ag 3d . t t . t. 2
Net-area along section ABCDE is given by,
4 g1 4g 2
2
s1
An Ag 2d . t t .
Net-area along section ABCF is given by,
4 g1

2.4 Effective Net-Area of Section

For profile consists of several members not in a common plane, the transfer of tensile forces from
one member to other are not uniformly distributed over net-area or there may be an eccentricity of
Ane instead of
transfer of loads. To over-come these problems, AISC uses an effective net area,
A
the actual net area, n . Effective net area of section of tension member when transfer of member
forces is not concentric is given by (AISC),

3 Chapt.-2: Design of Axial-force members by Haftom G.

 Ane U . An
Where U 1 x l 0.9 --reduction factor
x --distance between the plane of connection to the centroid of section
l --distance between the first and last bolts in the line with maximum number of
bolts

T
x

AISC specifications provide set of reduction factors, U values that could be used for preliminary
design of bolted/riveted members instead of using the empirical relation as given in table below.

Table 1: Reduction factor, U used for bolted connections (AISC)

a) Equal or unequal-leg angles connected by one leg to a connecting plate (singly or in pairs),
U = 0.9
b) W- or S-shaped section with flange-greater than 2/3 of the depth, structural tees cut from
these shapes, provided the connection is made to the flanges only and has no fewer than three
fasteners per line in the direction of stress, U= 0.90
c) W- or S-shaped section not meeting the conditions given in (b), structural tees cut from
these shapes, and all other shapes including built-up sections, provided the connection has no
fewer than three fasteners per line in the direction of stress, U=0.85
d) All members having only two fasteners per line in the direction of stress, U = 0.75

2.5 Minimum Stiffness Criteria of Tension Member

Even though the problem of stability is not considered in design of tension members, minimum
stiffness criteria are specified by codes for esthetic and safety reasons. The criterion may be used
in initial proportioning of tension members. Stiffness criterion is established in terms of l u r .

Table 2: AISC stiffness criterion for tension member

Types of member Acceptable l u r

-Main member 240
-Lateral bracing and secondary members 300
-Members subjected to other reversal loading Limited by compression

4 Chapt.-2: Design of Axial-force members by Haftom G.

 2.6 AISC Specification for Built-up Tension Members

1) When tension member is built-up from sections in continuous contact or separated by small
distance, the longitudinal spacing of connectors between those sections must not exceed 24
times the thickness of the thinner plate or 300mm if the member is to be painted or if it is not to
be painted and not to be subjected to corrosive condition.
2) For member given in (1) consist of unpainted weathering steel sections in continuous contact or
separated by small distance subjected to atmospheric corrosion, the maximum permissible
connector spacing are 14 times the thickness of the thinner plate or 180mm.
3) For tension member built-up from two or more shapes separated by larger distance, the shapes
must be connected to each other by intermittent filler plates at interval such that the slenderness
ratio of individual shapes between the fasteners does not exceed 300.
4) The distance from the center of any bolts to the nearest edge of the connected part under
consideration may not be larger than 12 times the thickness of the connected part or 150mm.

- Tie-plates or tie-bars used to hold two or more shapes together are as shown below.

width of
tie-plate
tie-plate
(filler-plate)

length of
tie-plate

distance b/n line

of connectors

AISC specification state that the length of tie-plate may not be less than 2/3 of the distance
between the lines of the connectors. Furthermore, their thickness may not be less than 1/50 of this
distance.

5 Chapt.-2: Design of Axial-force members by Haftom G.