FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION VERIFICATION AND FAILURE MECHANISM OF GROUTED SLEEVE CONNECTIONS UNDER LOADING

The force delivering mechanism is unclear in the grouted sleeve connection, so the load transmission path and method are analyzed. Then considering three coefficients, namely, fitting coefficient, combination coefficient and integral coefficient, methods for bearing capacity calculation and failure mode identification are proposed for grouted sleeve connections under tensile force. Moreover, the fitting coefficient is determined by fitting analysis on the collected date at home and abroad, i.e., 0.203 and 0.158 for the connection under incremental tensile and cyclic loading respectively. According to the analysis result from heat-damaged connections under cyclic loadings, it is suggested that the value of combination coefficient and integral coefficient should be 1.2 but the integral coefficient should be 1.0 after the connection’s exposure to a heating more than 400 ℃. Finally, a finite element simulation is performed to analyze the heat-damaged grouted sleeve connections under cyclic loadings. It is found that the crucial temperatures of the connection are 400 ℃ for the failure mode changing and 800 ℃ for obvious decrease in bearing capacity. In addition, the maximum difference of the bearing capacity is 8.2% between calculation results and simulation results, which means that both methods show same developing trend of the connection’s bearing capacity under cyclic loading. All of these findings and propositions will benefit the forming of design method of grouted sleeve connection.