Column Foundation Challenges: A J-Bolt Case Study at Historic Seremban Station

Abstract

Seremban Railway Station is a significant historical landmark in Malaysia that is currently undergoing modernization. During the upgrading process, j-bolts exhibited insufficient exposed length for proper nut engagement and anchorage of the new steel column base plates. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the stress distribution and displacement characteristics of the j-bolt after implementation of additional threading work and to determine the effectiveness of the proposed additional threading modification based on stress distribution and overall structural integrity at Seremban Railway Station. A structural performance method performed by implementing Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on four different additional threaded length of j-bolt was carried out using SolidWorks simulation to evaluate the stress distribution and displacement behaviour of the modified configuration. The j-bolt model was developed and assigned with appropriate material properties, followed by the application of boundary condition representing the actual structural constrains and loading condition. A mesh sensitivity setup implemented to ensure result accuracy. Static structural analysis was then performed to obtain the Von Mises Stress distribution and displacement respond of the system. Based on the surveying data on site and material properties sample from the supplier, the input can be used to structure analyse the affected j-bolt. FEA of the modified j-bolt models showed that the maximum stress ranged from to , while the maximum displacement ranged from 0.9144 mm to 0.9788 mm under the applied loading conditions. Model 5 achieved the longest additional threaded length of 126.2 mm with stress value of  whereas Model 4 recorded the shortest threaded length of 122.22 mm. The maximum stress recorded in these optimized models remained above the material’s yield strength of 2.039×10⁸ Nm². This finding suggest that the threaded modification did not maintain sufficient stiffness and load carrying capacity while preserving the overall strength j-bolt. In overall, additional threaded work on embedded j-bolt is proven to be structurally instable and not suitable for engineering applications.