Title: Research on contact pressure distribution in bolted joints

Authors: Jun Huang; Lianshui Guo

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100191, China. ' School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100191, China

Abstract: The formulas are proposed to describe the contact pressure distribution on the nut bearing surface and on the threads in bolted joints. The reaction forces in three axes directions and reaction moments about them are investigated for a bolted joint during the tightening process. Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to analyse and evaluate the contact pressure and those forces and moments. To acquire more accurate results, a parametric effective 3D finite element (FE) modelling scheme, which takes account of the helical geometry, is developed. Effects of contact radii ratios of the nut bearing surface on the contact pressure distribution are investigated.

Keywords: bolted joints; contact pressure distribution; finite element method; FEM; FEA; helical threads; 3D modelling; thread modelling; nut bearing surfaces; tightening process.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDE.2011.048131

International Journal of Design Engineering, 2011 Vol.4 No.4, pp.332 - 350

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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