NSBA has released a new document, “Bolted Field Splices for Steel Bridge Flexural Members,” which provides guidance on bolted field splice connections and corresponds with changes made in the 8th Edition AASHTO LRFD Design Specification. In the specification, the design of bolted field splices has been simplified to generate more efficient and economical bolted connections. NSBA’s document provides a walkthrough of the updated design procedure as well as three complete design examples for typical plate girders, deep plate girders and tub girders.
Additionally, NSBA Splice has been retooled. NSBA Splice is a free design tool for plate girder bridges and allows the designer to analyze various bolted splice connections to determine the most efficient bolt quantity and configuration. It removes the time-consuming task of designing and checking a bolted splice connection and simplifies the process with input and output pages, and also allows the user to explore the effects of bolt spacing, bolt size, strength and connection dimensions on the overall splice design. The new version is presented in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format, allowing users with Microsoft Excel 2010 or newer to access and use.
The Splice download includes a design spreadsheet as well as two complete examples. The examples are the inputs and solutions for Examples 1 and 2 presented in the “Bolted Field Splices for Steel Bridge Flexural Members” document. To download it, visit www.steelbridges.org and click on NSBA Splice.