Structural Steel Connections - Design, Detail and Specifications
Online
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December 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9, 2025
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Course Code: 16-1208-ONL25
- Overview
- Syllabus
- Instructor
Overview
This course is held online over 5 days on the following schedule (All times in Eastern Time Zone):
11:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern (Will include the usual breaks)
Required Resources:
- CISC (2021). Handbook of Steel Construction – 12th Edition. Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, Toronto, Canada.
- CISC. Moment Connections for Seismic Applications. Canadian Institute of Steel Construction. (Purchase from: https://www.amazon.ca/Moment-Connections-Seismic-Applications-Second/dp/08881116
After participating in this course, you will be able to:
- Achieve economy on your projects by the skills developed through participating in the two workshops on designing and detailing connections under instructor guidance
- Design bolted and welded connections under static and dynamic loading
- Apply methods learned from the course to achieve economy in the design, fabrication and erection of steel structures
Description
This training course aims to provide participants with the methodology for designing, detailing, and specifying steel connections, along with connection installation procedures and inspections.
This training course was developed to serve as a comprehensive reference source for the design of steel connections for buildings and bridges. The theory and design criteria of bolted and welded connections are explained and cross-referenced to Canadian design code CSA-S16:19 – Design of Steel Structures and CSA-S6:19 – Highway Bridge Design Code. Emphasis was given to providing examples from actual practice.
The training course will include numerous design examples of different connection types. Accurate details and specifications are required for fabrication to ensure trouble-free erection. There is a potential for achieving economy in designing and specifying connections, which is the focus of this training course.
Who Should Attend
Structural Designers • Consulting Engineers • Detailers • Specification Writers • Civil Engineers in large industries • Technicians and Technologists • Fabricators and Erectors of Steel Structures
Books to Accompany the Training Course
CISC. 2021. Handbook of Steel Construction – 12th Edition. Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, Toronto, Canada.
CISC, Moment Connections for Seismic Applications. Canadian Institute of Steel Construction. (Purchase from: https://www.amazon.ca/Moment-Connections-Seismic-Applications-Second/dp/0888111665)
More InformationTime: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Please note: You can check other time zones here.
Syllabus
Introduction
- Structural steel framing types and load transfer
- Design load, load combinations, and important factors
- Joint eccentricities and bearings of trusses and open-web steel joists
- Bridging for open-web steel joists
- Structural drawings versus shop drawings
- Connection design forces
- Pass-through/Transfer forces in multi-storey construction with braced frames
- Lateral stability bracing to stabilize compression flange of plate girder and trusses
- Fly bracing
- Types and properties of structural steel
Overview of connection types and load transfer through connection parts
- Bearing connections
- Tension connection
- Column-base plate connection
- Simple shear connections
- Moment connection
- Beam splice connection
- Column splice connection
- Filler plate in splice bolted connection
- Bolt erection clearance in bolted connections
Stiffener Design
- The need for stiffeners in beams
- Requirements for vertical stiffeners in beams and girders
- Design of intermediate transverse vertical stiffeners in girders
- Design of bearing stiffeners in beams and girders
- Stiffener requirements in beam-column connections
- Long- versus short-stiffener plate design in compression
- Design examples
Design of Connecting Plate in Tension
- Tension member failure modes
- Design equations for the tension member with bolted joint
- Tension-shear block failure
- Whitmore section method for gusset plate design in bracing-beam-column or multi-member truss joint
- Design equations for the tension member with welded joint
- Pin-connected member in tension (eye bar)
- Design examples
Design of Connecting Plate in Compression
- Long- versus short-plate design in compression
- Whitmore section method for gusset plate design in bracing-beam-column or multi-member truss joint
Bearing-type bolted connections
- Bolt types and mechanical properties
- Punched and drilled hole criteria
- Standard, large-size, short-slotted, and long-slotted holes
- Bolt bearing and shear resistance
- Bolt arrangement
- Bolts in tension
- Prying action
- Bolts in combined shear and tension
- Design examples
Slip-Critical Bolted Connections for Fatigue and Seismic Loading
- Bolt shear resistance
- Bolts in combined shear and tension
- Design examples
Bolt Installation and Inspection
- Installation of pre-tensioned bolts
- The calibrated wrench method
- The turn-of-the-nut method
- The use of direct tension indicators
- The use of “twist-off” or “tension-control” bolts
- Bolt installation under various temperature levels
- Use of flat washers and bevelled washers
- Galling and indentation
- Connection inspection procedure
Eccentric-Bolted Connection in Shear
- Bracket-column connection
- Beam and girder splices
- Bolts in angle-to-beam connection
- Design examples
Eccentric-Bolted Connection in Combined Shear and Tension
- Bracket-column connection
- Beam-to-column connection
- Design examples
Concentric Welded Connection
- Weld types
- Weld strength
- Weld detailing
- Capacity of fillet and partial- & full-penetration welds
- Beam splice connection
- Beam-column connection
- Joints with combined bolts and welds
- Design of fillet weld for plate girder’s intermediate transverse and bearing stiffeners
- Design of fillet weld between flange and web in plate girders
- Design examples
Inspection of Welds
- Methods of weld inspection
Eccentric-Welded Connection in Shear
- Bracket-column connection
- Beam and girder splices
- Bolts in angle-to-beam connection
- Design examples
Eccentric-welded connection in combined shear and tension
- Bracket-column connection
- Beam-column connection
- Design examples
Base Plate Design
- Column-to-concrete footing connection
- Anchor bolt design for strength
- Anchor bolt design for fatigue
- Base plate design under axial compression or combined axial force and bending
- Connection between chimney, stack, bins, and silos to supporting steel of concrete or steel base
- Steel beam-to-concrete wall connection (base plate, shear studs/anchor bolts)
- Design examples
Hollow Structural Section Connections
- Connection involving HSS for frame and truss structures
Design for Earthquake
- Bolted unstiffened extended end plate connection
- Bolted stiffened extended end plate connection
- Reduced beam section connection (field welded)
Steel Deck Connections
30 Good Rules for Connection Design and 57 Tips for Reducing Connection Costs
Instructor
Khaled Sennah, P.Eng., P.E., FCSCE, FEIC, FCAE, FIAAMKhaled is a Full Professor of Structural Engineering at Ryerson University. He has over 37 years of research, teaching and industrial experience in structural engineering, with particular emphasis on bridges. He designed and shared in the design of major multimillion-dollar projects in the United States of America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
His core area of expertise includes design, evaluation, retrofit, and rehabilitation of bridge infrastructure on which he published more than 270 publications. Recently, he received the 2013 A.B. Sanderson Award given to ”recognize outstanding contributions by a civil engineer to the development and practice of structural engineering in Canada from the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, the 2002 state-of-the-art of Civil Engineering Award, and the 1999 Arthur Wellington Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, and the 2020 and 1997 P. L. Pratley Award from the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering, CSCE, for best journal papers on Bridge Engineering.
In recognition of his long-term achievements, he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) in 2011, a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) in 2016, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) in 2017, and a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (FIAAM), in recognition for his contribution to “Innovative Solutions in Structural Design and Construction” in 2022.

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Fee & Credits
$2595 + taxes
- 2.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
- 25 Continuing Professional Development Hours (PDHs/CPDs)
- ECAA Annual Professional Development Points
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