The Behaviour of Cast Rope Sockets at Elevated Temperatures

Abstract

Modern building structures are making increasing use of high performance tension members in steel spiral strand. The terminations to the strand typically employ a steel fitting, a "socket", to transfer the load to other structural members, where the interface between strand and a conical recess in the socket is filled either with a cast metal alloy or (more recently) a complex resin compound. The cone grips the wires of the strand and is pulled into the conical recess in the socket by the axial load to generate a wedging action that transfers axial load between strand and socket.

The present paper addresses the performance of these sockets and their filling media at elevated temperatures, so that their performance in fire conditions can be assessed. A substantial programme of tests that has focussed on the creep-temperature-time relationship in metal and resin filled sockets is reported.

It is concluded that resin filled sockets are likely to fail within 60 hours if their core temperature is held at 160°C or above, while the critical temperature for alloy filled sockets is nearer 210°C.

Citation

Ridge, I. and Hobbs, R. (2012), "The Behaviour of Cast Rope Sockets at Elevated Temperatures", Journal of Structural Fire Engineering, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 155-168. https://doi.org/10.1260/2040-2317.3.2.155