FEM Stress Analysis and the Load Factor of Bolted Joints Consisting of Dissimilar Hollow Cylinders Under Tensile Loads

Abstract

In designing a bolted joint consisting of dissimilar hollow cylinders, the load factor (the ratio of an increment in axial bolt force to an external tensile load) is important. In the present paper, the effect of the load application point, the ratio b/a of the outside diameter to the inside diameter of dissimilar hollow cylinders, Young’s modulus ratio between the dissimilar hollow cylinders on the load factor and the interface stress distribution are examined using FEM calculations. As a result, it is found that the values of the load factor decrease as the ratio b/a increases and the positions where the load application point approaches the interfaces while the value of the load factor is independent of the bolt preload. In addition, it is found that the value of the load factor is less than 0.1 for steel and steel hollow cylinder joints, it is less than 0.2 for aluminum and aluminum hollow cylinder joints and it is less than 0.15 for aluminum and steel hollow cylinder joints while the material of bolt is steel in the present study. For verification of the FEM calculations, experiments to measure the load factor and a load when the interfaces start to separate were carried out. The FEM results are in a fairly good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, based on the obtained results, a design method for bolted joints with dissimilar hollow cylinders is demonstrated for determining the nominal bolt diameter and the bolt strength grade.