Volex Labs / Calculations / Connection design to EC3 Part 1-8.

Connection design to EC3 Part 1-8.

Bolt groups, fin plates, end plates and welds — checked to EN 1993-1-8 with the elastic bolt-group method for eccentric shear, bearing and tear-out checks per bolt, and weld throat sizing with the directional method.

The bolt group solver is validated against the classical elastic method as published in Trahair & Bradford and the SCI green books, and the moment connection module against SCI P398 examples.

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What Volex checks

Validated against the published example

4-bolt symmetric group — eccentric shear (V = 100 kN, M = 10 kNm) Trahair & Bradford §13.4 elastic method; SCI P358
QuantityPublishedVolexError
F_max per bolt64.35 kN64.35 kN0.00%
This case is one of 359 published checks the platform passes — the full table, with every source and every error, is public at volexlabs.com/verification.

Frequently asked

Which connection types are covered?
Bolt groups under any in-plane load, fin plates, flexible end plates, welds, and bolted moment end-plate connections — each as its own clause-referenced module.
How are eccentric bolt groups solved?
By the standard elastic method — the same one in Trahair & Bradford and the SCI green books — validated to 0.0% against the published example.
Does it size welds?
Yes, fillet weld throats by the EC3-1-8 §4.5.3 directional method with the βw correlation factors by steel grade.
Can I optimise the connection?
The connection optimiser iterates bolt count, size and plate thickness to find the lightest arrangement that passes every check.

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