Technical Paper
Assessment of Real-World Bolted Joints by Combining FEA With VDI Guidelines
2021-09-22
2021-26-0408
Real-world bolted connections are subjected to axial, bending and transverse working loads which are mostly difficult to ascertain purely by hand calculations and Free body diagrams (FBDs). VDI 2230 document which is largely followed across the industry for bolted joint assessments, assumes that this load data is readily available to the users. However, that is not always the case. Present work tries to address this aspect of bolted joint assessment by providing physics-based guidelines to ascertain these loads by using Finite Element Tools. Bolted joint phenomenon like Prying effect may be obvious in simple cases, however quantifying this effect in real life problems is quite challenging. Authors have suggested simple, but effective method, to quantify this effect by using Finite Element Analysis (FEA).