Design and Analysis of a Compact Hydraulic Bolt Tensioner

Abstract

In equipment like high pressure vessels, there will caps on which loads of the order of several thousands of tons acts. Such caps require a huge number of big-diameter bolts, often M70 to M150mm in diameter. Each bolt will be subjected to a tremendous amount of force, on the order of 300 tons. The use of hand-operated wrenches to apply such a load is deemed out. When a high number of bolts are tightened on the flange, the applied load is lost owing to friction at the clamping surface and the applied load is not uniform. It is advised that a hydraulic bolt tensioning system be used to address these drawbacks. The device operates at a pressure of 1500 bar, which is extremely high. Therefore, the equipment must be designed to ensure the device’s compactness and safety. Bolt tensioners are used to tighten bolts and studs in a variety of important applications. These devices would be imported. It was proposed in this work that a small hydraulic bolt tensioner be designed and analysed using both theoretical and finite element analysis (Non-liner static analysis). The required boundary conditions and applied pressure were computed. The tensioner’s design was optimized to assure its safety and compactness.