INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT ISSN :2348-4918
STRESS ANALYSIS OF THREADED FASTENER UNDER TWO
DIFFERENT BOLTED JOINT CONFIGURATIONS
DR.S.N.SHELKE1
MANOJ SAYAJI SONAWANE2
1
Head of the Department, Mechanical Engineering, Sir Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology Nasik, Maharashtra, India
Shelke.santosh77@yahoo.co.in
2
M.E.Design (Pursuing), Mechanical Engineering, Sir Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology Nasik, Maharashtra, India,
sonawane_manoj15@rediffmail.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------***----------------------------------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
Most mechanical connections are subject to
dynamic loads. Rotating and reciprocating machinery
generates significant cyclic loads. Same like that the nuts
and the bolts play a very important role in the
machinery fittings, machinery makings and the
constructional purposes also. Threaded fasteners are
probably the best choice to apply a desired clamp load to
assemble a joint, at a low cost, with the option to
disassemble if and when necessary. As bolted
connections are of sever importance in most of the
machines and automobiles etc. For every application,
designing a unique solution has become time consuming
and subjective in approach. There is a strong need to
include the virtual validation of the design in the process
of approval of the concept at the technical level. Lack of
`Analysis’ could result in improperly designed structure
of the assembly that might fail under normal working
loads and/or other controlled conditions [1][2]. It is
necessary to design and validation of the bolted
connection in less possible time and without any need of
experimental testing, as it’s not possible practically to do
experimental testing for every new design of bolted
connection. FEA tools and techniques are being
proposed for addressing the nuances of the given
application while optimizing the needs of the overall
project.
Keywords: FEA, Stress Analysis, Circular Array
configuration, Rectangular array configuration, UTM, Shear
test.
1. INTRODUCTION
The automotive industry (vehicles and components)
represents a strategic and important business sector.
With the eventual trade liberalization, automotive
manufacturers and vendors shall require cars and
components of world class standard. The chassis of trucks
is the backbone of vehicles and integrates the main truck
component systems such as the axles, suspension, power
Volume: 01 Issue: 02 | Paper id - IJIERM-I-II-1128
train, cab and trailer. The truck chassis is usually loaded by
static, dynamic and also cyclic loading. Static loading
comes from the weight of cabin, its content and passengers.
The movement of truck affects a dynamic loading to the
chassis. The vibration of engines and the roughness of road
give a cyclic loading. The inclusion of bolted joints in
aircraft structures leads to regions of stress
concentration. Composite materials are relatively brittle
and typically offer limited stress relief through
localized yielding compared to metals. This, combined
with inadequate failure prediction capabilities, can lead
to conservatively designed composite bolted joints
which amount to severe structural weight penalties.
Bonded joints offer higher structural efficiency, but
limit accessibility and can increase manufacturing and
maintenance costs. Optimizing composite bolted joints using
improved modeling tools thus continues to be a priority for
airframe manufacturers. Countersunk fasteners are of
particular interest for use in skin-structure joints where
aerodynamic efficiency is important. Many of these joints
are single-lap in nature. Single-lap joints result in
significant stress concentrations and lower bearing
strengths compared to double-lap joints, while countersunk
joints clearly involve a highly complex stress
distribution in the laminates. In this, study of M8 bolt
stress analysis is done for two different arrangements of
bolts i.e. Circular array and Rectangular array.
1.1 Finite Element Analysis
The finite element method (FEM) is a computational
technique used to obtain approximate solutions of boundary
value problems in engineering. Simply stated, a boundary
value problem is a mathematical problem in which one or
more dependent variables must satisfy a differential
equation everywhere within a known domain of independent
variables and satisfy specific conditions on the boundary of
the domain
1.2 A general Procedure for FEA
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 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT ISSN :2348-4918

There are certain common steps in formulating a finite

element analysis of a physical problem, whether structural,
fluid flow, heat transfer and some others problem. These
steps are usually embodied in commercial finite element
software packages. There are three main steps, namely:
preprocessing, solution and post processing. The
preprocessing (model definition) step is critical. A perfectly
computed finite element solution is of absolutely no value if
it corresponds to the wrong problem. This step includes:
define the geometric domain of the problem, the element
type(s) to be used, the material properties of the elements,
the geometric properties of the elements (length, area, and
the like), the element connectivity (mesh the model), the Fig-1:Autocad Drawing (Circular Array)
physical constraints (boundary conditions) and the loadings
[1]. The next step is solution, in this step the governing
algebraic equations in matrix form and computes the
unknown values of the primary field variable(s) are
assembled. The computed results are then used by back
substitution to determine additional, derived variables, such
as reaction forces, element stresses and heat flow. Actually
the features in this step such as matrix manipulation,
numerical integration and equation solving are carried out
automatically by commercial software [13]. The final step is
post processing, the analysis and evaluation of the result is
conducted in this step. Examples of operations that can be
accomplished include sort element stresses in order of Fig-2: Solid Model (Circular Array)
magnitude, check equilibrium, calculate factors of safety,
plot deformed structural shape, animate dynamic model
behavior and produce color-coded temperature plots. The Fig-1 shows, two plates of size 500X180X30mm are
large software has a preprocessor and postprocessor to connected with M8 X 1.25 Bolts eight in numbers with
accompany the analysis portion and the both processor can circular array fashion along the PCD of 120mm and
communicate with the other large programs. Specific overlapping length of 241 mm. A static analysis of M8 X
procedures of pre and post are different dependent upon the 1.25 mm flange bolts and nuts are used to connect the two
program plates is performed using solid modeling software CATIA.
Geometry modeling of the two plates connected in circular
2. MATERIALS AND METHOD array fashion including nuts and bolts as shown in Fig-2

Finite element software (Hypermesh-v-12) is used for stress

The bolts are made of mild steel. Typical values of shear
yield stress 693.5 Mpa and yield stress is 950 Mpa,
Poisson’s ratio is 0.3, density 7.8 x 103kg/m3 and Young’s
modulus is 2.1 x 105 Mpa .The plate is made of cold rolled
steel. Typical value of yield stress is 340 Mpa, Poisson’s
ratio is 0.3, density is 7.8 x 103kg/m3 and Young’s modulus
is 2.05 x 105 Mpa.[3] FEA software is used to analyze, two
different configurations to connect the two plates with M8
bolts keeping number of bolts Eight. Experimental testing is
done to validate the results obtained from FEA software.
analysis. The elements used in Plate assembly model are all
8-node solid hex elements C3D8R [4] with average element
size of 3mm. Finite element model for stress analysis is
consisted of 22726 elements and 26530 nodes shown in Fig.
3.To model the contact between the bolts shank and plate
holes, bottom surface of upper plate and top surface of lower
plate CONTACT elements are used. The contact elements of
lower plate are acting as master elements and that of upper
plate acting as slave elements.

3. FEA-INVESTIGATION FOR BOLTS

CONNECTED IN CIRCULAR ARRAY
CONFIGURRATION

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Volume: 01 Issue: 02 | Paper id - IJIERM-I-II-1128
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT ISSN :2348-4918

Fig -3: Meshing (Circular)

Fig-5: Auto-cad Drawing (Rectangular Array)
3.1 Loading condition
Plate assembly is subjected under tension at one end with a
load of 1000 N and keeping opposite end fixed as analysis
of bolt has to be done under shear loading. And the stresses
induced in bolts are observed in all three directions. The
stresses in direction of loading are point of interest. So the
resultant stresses are observed in the direction of loading as
shown in Fig-4

Fig-6: Solid Model (Circular Array)

In this case two plates are connected in rectangular array

fashion with overlapping length of 241 mm and placed equi-
spaced with row spacing of 40mm and column spacing of
120 mm. Plate assemblies is tested in FEM software under
same loading condition as that for circular array
configuration. And results are observed in the direction of
loading for comparison purpose.
The resultant stress contour plot is shown in Fig-7
Fig-4: Contour plot of stress component-S22 (Circular
Array)

Stress result shows that under the load of 1000N maximum

stress induced (Stress Concentration) is at the shank below
the head region having value of 111 Mpa. This is
significantly less than bolt materials yield strength (Sy= 950
Mpa).So the plate assembly with M8 bolts in circular array
fashion, eight in numbers is safe under the tensile load of
1000N.The maximum displacement of 0.4170 mm is also
observed at bolt shank’s bottom end.

4. FEA-INVESTIGATION FOR BOLTS

CONNECTED IN RECTANGULAR ARRAY Fig-7: Contour plot of stress component-S22 (Rectangular
CONFIGURRATION Array)

The same plates are connected with same bolts of M8 X
1.25 size and same in numbers with rectangular array
configuration as shown in Fig-5 and Fig-6.
5. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
From the Fig-4 and Fig-7 we can see that, the stress
concentration region in both circular and rectangular array
configuration is same i.e. Just below the head of the bolt at
shank. But the Maximum resultant stress developed due to
1000 N of load in Y-Direction for circular array
configuration is more (111Mpa) than maximum stress
develops in rectangular array configuration, which is
50.86Mpa as shown in Fig-7.

6. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

6.1 Preparation of test specimen

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Volume: 01 Issue: 02 | Paper id - IJIERM-I-II-1128
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT ISSN :2348-4918
Two plates of CRCA material are taken .The eight numbers
of holes drilled in circular array with PCD of 120 mm and
overlapping length of 241 mm. These plates are then bolted
together with M8 X 1.25 mm flanged bolts and nuts of
carbon steel material by applying the sufficient torque
required for tightening. The length of the plate includes the
gauge length of 320mm and rest of the 180mm as gripper
length to hold the test specimen in UTM for shear testing as
shown in Fig-9.
Fig-8: CRCA Plates for Experimental Testing
(Circular Array)
Fig-9: Test Specimen under Shear Test
6.2 Testing on UTM
Fig-9 shows the test specimen is loaded on UTM. Strain
gauge is used to record stress during shear testing. Non
Volume: 01 Issue: 02 | Paper id - IJIERM-I-II-1128
diffusible type strain gauge with data logger is used and it is
located at maximum stress region as per the result of finite
element analysis i.e. in proximity of bolt region. The test is
conducted at a rate of 10 mm /min. And specimen is stressed
beyond yield point but within ultimate point. And result is
observed as shown in following table
Table-1: Experimental result
Percent
Readings Readings
Variation
determined by recorded
in results
FEA method during
Parameter (Analysis
for circular physical
Vs
array Experimentati
Experiment
configuration on
)
Max-Stress
111.1 126.403 12.11%
(Mpa)
7. CONCLUSIONS
From FEA and Experimental result it is concluded that the
FEA technique can be suitably employed for the design
analysis of bolted connection. As bolted connections are of
sever importance in most of the machines and automobiles
etc. It is necessary to design the bolted connection in less
possible time and without any need of experimental testing,
as it’s not possible practically to do experimental testing for
every new design of bolted connection
Also, among the two configuration which were selected for
stress analysis (i.e. Circular array and rectangular array
configuration) it is concluded from FEA result that,
rectangular array configuration is better than circular array
configuration as maximum stress induced in bolt shank for
rectangular array configuration is less than that of circular
array configuration. However as value of stress induced in
both configuration is less than the yield strength of bolt
material, there is scope to use small diameter fastener than
M8.
8. REFERENCES
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Volume: 01 Issue: 02 | Paper id - IJIERM-I-II-1128