Bent Plate Connection (" Connection specifications " and more)

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Design restrictions for bent plates :

  • The " Moment type " for a bent plate connection can be ' Non-moment ' or ' Bolted ' or ' Welded .' Skewed framing conditions for bent plate moment connections are not supported. Supported framing conditions for bent plate moment connections are essentially the same as those for moment clip angles. The supported conditions are as follows:

    1. Wide flange beam to wide flange column web or flange with bolted moment plates, bent plate connection (beam perpendicular to column);
    2. Wide flange beam to wide flange column flange with welded moment plates, bent plate connection (beam perpendicular to column);
    3. Wide flange beam to wide flange column web or flange with bolted moment plates, bent plate connection (beam perpendicular to column, and beam and column have the same elevation);
    4. Wide flange beam to wide flange column flange with welded moment plates, bent plate connection (beam perpendicular to column, and beam and column have the same elevation);
    5. Wide flange beam to wide flange beam with the third wide flange beam on the opposite, with bolted moment plates, bent plate connection;
    6. Wide flange beam to wide flange column flange with bolted moment angles, bent plate connection (beam perpendicular to column);
    7. Wide flange beam to wide flange column web or flange with bolted moment plates, bent plate connection (beam to column with slope).
  • Connection design is able to create non-moment bent plates on the ends of wide flange or S shape or welded plate wide flange or channel beams under beam-to-beam or beam-to-column framing conditions.
  • Connection design is able to create non-moment bent plates on the ends of HSS rectangular beams framing to wide flange or S shape columns when " Use paddle plate " is checked ( ).
  • For non-moment bent plates, the supported beam can be skewed or sloped or framed perpendicular to a wide flange , S shape , welded plate wide flange or HSS rectangular column, but not a HSS round column.
  • Bent plates may optionally be detailed with (shop attached to) the supporting member. If framing to a tube column, the bent plate must be shop welded to the supporting column.
  • Non-moment bent plates are often applied in skewed framing situations. Connection design can design bent plates from 56 to 90 degrees for two-sided connections and from 18 to 90 degrees for one-sided connections.
  • Bent plates can have a different " NM bolt type to supported " and " NM bolt type to supporting ."
  • Connection design looks to relevant setup choices and bent plate " Connection specifications " to design an initial minimum setup connection. If necessary to meet the " Shear load " on the supported beam, connection design increases rows of bolts and bolt diameter and plate thickness to design a connection that works. If connection design cannot create a bent plate in a particular framing situation, it attempts to design a shear plate connection.
  • For AISC bent plate information, see the AISC Thirteenth Edition , p10-149.

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------" Connection specifications " for beam ' Bent plate ' connections ------

A beam's " Connection specifications " change with the selected connection type. To get this set of conn specs to show up on the Beam Edit window, select ' Bent plate ' as the " Input connection type ." For auto standard or user defined connections, conn specs are not on the Beam Edit window, but can be found at Home > Project Settings > Job > Auto Standard Connections or User Defined Connections

Gage: Narrow or Wide .

A bent plate connection's gage is the center-to-center distance from the column of holes on the one bent plate to the column of holes on the other bent plate. ' Narrow ' and ' Wide ' gages can be defined in setup.

' Narrow ' specifies that a narrow gage bent plates connection be designed per the distance entered to Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Standard Fabricator Connections > Bent Plate Settings > " Center to center distance, narrow gage ."

' Wide ' specifies that a wide gage bent plates connection be designed per the distance entered to Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Standard Fabricator Connections > Bent Plate Settings > " Center to center distance, wide gage ."

Advanced Selection: m.Ends[0].Designed.IsWideGage
Parametric module: m.Ends[0].Designed.IsWideGage

Attachment to supported: Bolted or Welded . The supported member is the beam. The bent plate's leg to supported attaches to the web of that beam. This " Connection specifications " option can be found on that beam's edit window or on the setup windows for auto standard or user defined connections.

' Bolted ' (to supported)
' Welded ' (to supported)

' Bolted ' specifies that the connection be bolted to the beam's web. The bolts may be field bolts or shop bolts depending on the choice made to " Attached to . " If " Attached to " is set to ' Supported ,' the bent plate shop bolts to the beam's web. If " Attached to " is ' Supporting ,' the bent plate field bolts to the beam.

' Welded ' specifies that the bent plate be welded to the beam's web. Whether the welds are shop welds of field welds depends on the choice made to " Attached to ." If " Attached to " is set to ' Supported ', the bent plate shop welds to the beam's web. If " Attached to " is ' Supporting ', the bent plate field welds to the beam.

 Conn changed. Possibly: Bent plate vs Shear tab
connection changed banner

Connection design cannot create a bent plate whose " Attachment to Supported " and " Attachment to Supporting " are both set to ' Welded '. Most likely the program will, instead, design a shear plate connection and notify you of such with a connection changed banner like the one shown above. When such a banner is emitted, the " System designed connection " for this end of the beam is reported to be a ' Shear plate '.

Advanced Selection: m.Ends[0].Designed.IsBolted
Parametric module: m.Ends[0].Designed.IsBolted
Setup: Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Standard Fabricator Connections > Bent Plate Settings

Attachment to supporting: Bolted or Welded . The supporting member is the beam or column that the outstanding leg(s) of the beam end's single or double bent plate connection attaches to.

' Bolted ' (to supporting)
' Welded ' (to supporting)

' Bolted ' specifies that connection design create a bent plate connection that bolts to the supporting member (beam or column). If " Attached to " is ' Supporting ,' the bent plate shop bolts to the supporting member. If " Attached to " is ' Supported ,' the bent plate field bolts to the supporting member. In the above, left example, the connection is shop bolted to the supporting member (the column) and field bolted to the supported beam.

' Welded ' instructs connection design to create a bent plate that shop welds to the supporting beam or column. If " Attached to " is ' Supporting ,' the bent plate shop welds to the supporting member. If " Attached to " is ' Supported ,' the bent plate field welds to the supporting member.

 Conn changed. Possibly: Bent plate vs Shear tab
connection changed banner

Connection design cannot create a bent plate whose " Attachment to Supported " and " Attachment to Supporting " are both set to ' Welded '. Most likely the program will, instead, design a shear plate connection and notify you of such with a connection changed banner like the one shown above. When such a banner is emitted, the " System designed connection " for this end of the beam is reported to be a ' Shear plate '.

Setup: Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Standard Fabricator Connections > Bent Plate Settings

Side: Near side or Far side or Both .

' Near side '
' Far side '
' Both '

' Near side ' or ' Far side ' specifies a single bent plate fastened to the designated side. The near side is the web of the beam on which the left end of the beam is to your left and the right end of the beam is to your right.

' Both ' specifies double bent plates: one fastened to the near side web of the supported beam, the other to the far side web.

Advanced Selection: m.Ends[0].Designed.Side
Parametric module: m.Ends[0].Designed.Side

Attached to: Supported or Supporting .

' Supported '
' Supporting '

' Supported ' specifies that the bent plate connection be attached (welded or bolted) in the shop to the supported member (beam). It will be considered to be a submaterial of that beam and will therefore appear on details of that beam and in that beam's bill of material. A " Field clearance " can be applied.

' Supporting ' specifies shop attachment to the supporting member (beam or column).

Advanced Selection: m.Ends[0].Designed.AttachToSupported
Parametric module: m.Ends[0].Designed.AttachToSupported

Stagger on: Nonstaggered or Supporting or Supported . This " Connection specifications " option applies to bent plates that are bolted in both legs.

' Nonstaggered ' specifies that connection design create the bent plate with identical vertical hole spacing in both legs of the plate.

' Supporting ' specifies normal vertical hole spacing in the leg to the supported beam and a staggered hole pattern in the leg to the supporting member.

' Supported ' specifies normal vertical hole spacing in the leg to the supporting member and a staggered hole pattern in the leg to the supported beam.

Welded extended tee: or . This " Connection specifications " option can apply to a beam with a bent plate connection framing perpendicular or sloping or skewed (as shown below) to a supporting beam.

  Welded extended tee
   Welded extended tee
The tee face that the bent plate connects to in the left example is parallel to the beam web.

If this box is checked ( ), connection design generates a built-up tee (two plates welded together) for the connection to bolt to. The check box for " Full depth extended tee " under certain framing situations controls whether the tee is designed to the depth of the connection or to the full depth of the supporting beam.

If the box is not checked ( ), connection design bolts the bent plates to the supporting beam's web.

Advanced Selection: m.Ends[0].Designed.WeldedExtendedTee
Parametric module: m.Ends[0].Designed.WeldedExtendedTee

Full depth extended tee: or . This applies when the box is checked here -- in " Connection specifications " -- for " Welded extended tee ."

  Full depth ...
   Full depth ...

If this box is checked ( ), connection design creates a built-up tee that is the full depth of the supporting beam.

If the box is not checked ( ), the built-up tee is designed to the depth of the connection if the top & bottom flanges of the supported beam (this beam) are entirely below or entirely above the half-depth of the supporting beam. If the depth of the supported beam is greater than half the depth of the supporting beam, the built-up tee is designed to the full depth of the supporting beam.

Advanced Selection: m.Ends[0].Designed.FullDepthExtendedTee
Parametric module: m.Ends[0].Designed.FullDepthExtendedTee

Bent plate grade: Auto or user-entered .

' Auto (checked) ' specifies that connection design enter the " Plate material grade " from Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Standard Fabricator Connections > Plates > the " Bent Plates " section.

' Auto (not checked) ' lets you select a steel grade on the list box ( ). Choices shown in that list box come from Home > Project Settings > Job > Plate Grades .

Use paddle plate: or . This " Connection specifications " option applies when an HSS/TS beam frames to a wide flange or S shape column. It permits the design of bolted-bolted or bolted-welded bent plates. The option is disabled ( grayed out ) when the bent plate's " Attachment to supported " is ' Welded ' and " Attached to " is ' Supported .'

  Use paddle plate  
  Use paddle plate  

If this box is checked ( ), the bent plates weld or bolt to the column and bolt to the paddle plate, which shop welds to the beam. The end of the beam is notched for insertion of the paddle plate.

If this box is not checked ( ), the connection will likely fail with the message " Unsupported connection type ," and the connecting end of the beam will get a " System designed connection " of ' Beam plain end '.

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Connection design locks for bent plates :

Connection design locks for bent plate connections may appear, under a leaf with one of the below-listed names, on the Beam Edit window or on a Connection Component window. The locks can also appear on the User Defined Connections window.

Connection Design Locks
(" Input connection type " = ' Bent plate ')
  Leaf Name Situation
Bent Plate    The near side plate and the far side plate can be adjusted independently.  
  Beam Web Doubler Beam web doublers are designed for beam-to-beam framing situations when required. When they are not required, " Beam Web Doubler " locks with null values (e.g., distances of ' 0 ') are available.
Welded Tee Connection design can create a built-up tee for beam-to-beam framing situations instead of bolting the bent plate to the supporting beam's web. 
Safety Seat May be applied for non-moment bent plates in beam-to-column framing situations. Under " Connection type ," the option to " Use a safety erection seat " must be checked.
Top Moment Plate Bottom Moment Plate Under " Moment ," the " Connection material " is ' Plate '. 
Moment Cap Plate A beam with a welded moment connection to the top of a column flange. The moment cap plate shop welds to the column.
Column Web Doublers
Column Flange Stiffeners   		The boxes for " Design for doublers " and " Design for stiffeners " are checked. All fields will be zero if doublers/stiffeners are specified but not required.
Top Moment Angle Bottom Moment Angle The " Connection material " specified must be angle and suitable angle material must be available.

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