Forward
Free tool · No signup

Bolt allowable shear calculator

Single-shear-plane allowable shear for A325, A490, and A307 bolts at the most common diameters. AISC ASD basis (allowable stress design). For threaded vs threads-excluded conditions, the calc uses the threads-INCLUDED conservative value (Fnv = 54 ksi for A325-N).

Allowable shear (ASD, Ω = 2.00)
11.9 kips(1 plane)
Per plane: Rn = Fnv × Ab = 54 × 0.442 = 23.86 kips → allowable = 11.93 kips/plane.
For LRFD design, the strength is φRn where φ = 0.75. Multiply this ASD value by ~1.5 for an LRFD ballpark. EOR stamps the final connection.
Reference values used
  • A325-N (threads INCLUDED): Fnv = 54 ksi
  • A325-X (threads EXCLUDED): Fnv = 68 ksi
  • A490-N: Fnv = 68 ksi
  • A490-X: Fnv = 84 ksi
  • A307: Fnv = 27 ksi

Allowable per AISC ASD: Rn/Ω = Fnv × Ab / 2.00 (Ω = 2.00). For LRFD multiply by 0.75 / 2.00 × 1.5 ≈ 1.5x the ASD allowable. Single shear plane — for double shear, multiply by 2.

Built by Forward

Connection sanity-checks over text.

Forward runs bolt shear, beam deflection, NEC + IBC + IMC calcs, plus RFI/drawing/submittal lookups from Procore + Autodesk + OneDrive — over a single phone number.