TECHNOLOGY 141

Clamp Force –
The Key to Making Bolted Joints Safe
by Masaya HAGIWARA

Introduction
In almost all machinery or mechanical constructions, there exists a great number of joints connected by threaded
fasteners. Such connections are generally called bolted joints. A bolted joint consists of at least two clamped
members, one externally threaded fastener (bolt, screw or stud), and one internally threaded fastener (nut) or one
internal thread directly machined (drilled and tapped) to one of the clamped members. The primary objective to use
threaded fasteners is, of course, to keep the clamped members tight.
This article depicts how the clamp force works in bolted joints. Concrete design information is also presented to make
bolted joints safe. The terms “bolt” and “nut” are used in this article for referring to externally and internally threaded
fasteners, respectively.

The Roles of “Clamping” and “Clamp Force”

Bolt/nut assembly is used to keep the clamped members tight by applying a compressive force to them. The action is
called clamping or tightening, and the compressive force applied to the clamped members is called “clamp force”. It works to
prevent the separation at the interface between two clamped members called “contact plane”. If one solid component is used
in a structure instead of two clamped members, neither bolt/nut assembly nor clamping action is necessary. In such cases, no
fastener failure is, of course, expected. This suggests that if the contact plane of a joint does not separate when external load
is applied, and the clamped members act as a solid body, the fastener failure is less
likely to occur. Actually, most of the fastener failures such as self-loosening and Fig. 1 Bolted joint and corresponding 2-D
fatigue fracture are caused by the separation of the contact plane of a bolted joint. model in tightening
The separation of the contact plane normally brings the excessive stress condition on (a) Bolted joint
a bolt/nut assembly. ød
ød2
Tightening torque T
How to Control the Clamp Force? Nut (Rotation angle Θ)

Figure 1 shows a simple bolted joint and its 2-D model for analyzing the behavior Clamped φ
P
β
members
in tightening procedure. In the model, the clamp force and the axial tension on F β
the bolt F are represented by vertically placed spring elements Kc and Ks, and
the torques Tth and Tb acting on the bolt shank and on the clamped members are
transformed into lateral forces represented by horizontally placed ones Γs and Γc,
øD b
respectively. In the practical tightening control activities, the tightening torque T
and/or the rotation angle Θ are normally selected as indices for clamp force control
since they can be easily measured and controlled outside.
Clamp F Bolt
We can easily understand from Fig. 1(b) that the coefficient of frictions μth and force F Fixture
μb would affect the clamp force F obtained by controlling the tightening torque
T, and the stiffness values of the springs Ks and Kc would affect the clamp force F (b) 2-D model

obtained by controlling the rotation angle Θ. Therefore, we have to know

the real values of these influencing factors to determine the target values
of the indices T and/or Θ. (Ks) F Mating threads (μth)

The effectiveness of the other indices such as the elongation of a bolt Tth Tightening
Bolt T
used in pre-tensioning method or thermal heating method can also be
explained by using this figure noticing that the elongation of a bolt is (Γs) Nut
φ
indicated as the shrinkage of the spring Ks. Loosening
Tb Bearing surface (μb)
How does Clamp Force Work to Prevent self- (Γc) Clamped Θ
members Contact plane (μc)
loosening? Rotation
angle
Figure 2 shows the 2-D model similar to Fig. 1(b) subjected to various Tth +Tb =T (Kc) F ･･･ Underhead
types of external loading. There are three contact surfaces where slippage
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(a) Bolted joint ød (b) 2-D model

ø d2 Mating threads (μth)
(Ks) Fb
φ
β
Tth
P
Bolt
Wa Fb β Wa Loosening
(Γs) Nut Fig. 2 Bolted joint and
Wa φ Wa corresponding 2-D model
Mr Mr
Wtr Tb Wtr Bearing surface (μb) Mr subjected to external loading

Fc ø Db Clamped Θ
(Γc) members Contact plane (μc) Rotation
Wtr
Mr Mr angle
Tth +Tb =0 (Kc) Fc ･･･ Underhead
Wa Fb Wa

or relative displacement may occur. To consider the self loosening problem, it is important to notice the equilibrium of torques.
Supposing that, as an extreme case, the coefficients of friction μth and μb become zero alternately under repeated loading,
two springs Γs and Γc, will act as “a pair of pistons” to keep the relationship Tth+Tb=0. During the loading cycles, the nut
will move to the right direction step by step to decrease the clamp force F. This is the simplest explanation of self-loosening
mechanism of bolt/nut assembly. If neither slippage nor separation occurs at the contact plane, the slippage on the other contact
surfaces is hardly ever expected since the additional forces or stresses on the bolt/nut assembly are normally very small. Thus,
the higher clamp force would work to prevent self-loosening by keeping the contact plane tighter as well as increasing directly
the resistances of slippage between the mating threads and between the bearing surfaces.

Design Consideration to Prevent Fatigue Fracture

As mentioned before, the higher the clamp force, the smaller the additional forces or stresses acting on bolt/nut assemblies
by the external load. It should be noted that the separation at the contact plane is more likely to occur when bending moment is
applied.
Figure 3 shows two types of bolted joints, (a) concentrically loaded single bolted joint and (b) multi-bolted joint having the
same bolt(s) and nut(s) subjected to the same magnitude of the external tensile force W.
Figure 4 shows Haigh diagrams to consider the risk of fatigue fracture (1). Assuming that the external tensile force fluctuates
from zero to Wmax=30kN, the bolt in both bolted joints will fail by fatigue with 100% probability if the clamp force F is 10 kN
since the stress amplitude acting on the bolt (point A) is much higher than the fatigue limit shown by the solid line. If the clamp
force F is raised to 30 kN (Point B), the bolt in the single-bolted joint will be free from fatigue since the stress amplitude acting
on the bolt becomes negligibly small. On the other hand for the multi-bolted joint, the point B is just above the fatigue limit line,
and there is still more than 50% risk of fatigue fracture even though the number of bolts is doubled. The higher stress comes
from prying action of the clamped members for the bolted joint as shown in Fig.3 (b). To avoid this, the offset or eccentricity of
the bolt axes should be minimized.

What Should We do for Bolted Joints Unable to Apply Sufficient Clamp Force?
W
There are some cases where enough clamp force cannot be applied due to the constraint of the strength
and/or the rigidity of clamped members. In such cases, “double nuts” would be one of the most effective
ø11
countermeasures to prevent both self-loosening and fatigue fracture. The locking force acting between two
20

nuts generates the resistant force against the slippage between the mating threads, and at the same time it
20

improves the stress concentration on the first thread root of a bolt mated with the lower nut. The fatigue
strength of a bolt mated with double nuts may reach 150% of that of a same bolt mated with single regular
M10 nut (2).
ø53

(a) Single bolted joint 600 Fatigue limit 600 Fatigue limit
（ p =50% ） （ p =50% ）
Stress amplitude σa MPa

Stress amplitude σa MPa

　

W σmin= 0 σmax = σ0.2 σmin= 0 σmax = σ0.2

400 400
W max=40kN F =10 kN F =10 kN
W max=30kN W max=40kN
20

F =20 kN W max=30kN F =20 kN

200 W max=20kN A 200 W max=20kN
20

F =30 kN A F =30 kN
F =40 kN B F =40 kN
W
2×M10 B
40 0 200 400 600
　 800 1000 0 200 400 600 800 1000
120
150 Mean stress σm MPa Mean stress σm MPa
(b) Multi-bolted joint (a) Single bolted joint (b) Multi-bolted joint
Fig.3 Two types of bolted joints subjected Fig.4 Haigh diagrams for bolted joints in Fig.3
to axial tensile force W subjected to fatigue loading (0-Wmax)
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ød Upper Nut ød Tightening ød

ød 2 ød2 Torque T2 ≈ T1 ø d2
Tightening Locking
Locking
Torque T1 force Floc
Torque Tloc
Lower nut

Clamp force F Clamp force F’ ≈ F

(a) Initial tightening (b) Secondary tightening (c) Locking

Fig. 5 Typical tightening procedure for bolt/double nuts assembly

The locking force should be as high as possible. Therefore, the use of two regular nuts is recommended. In the case where
thin nut has to be used due to the constraint of length, size or weight, it should be used as a lower nut closer to the bearing
surface of a clamped member since the loadability of bolt/thin nut assembly for thread stripping is lower than that of bolt/regular
nut assembly. Figure 5 summarizes the procedure to make bolt/double nuts assembly.

Concluding Remarks
The importance of the clamp force is emphasized in this article. Please don’t misunderstand the significance of so called “high
strength bolts” with property classes 10.9 and 12.9. They are not designed to endure the severe service conditions, but are lined
up simply to be able to apply higher clamp force. Higher clamp force leads to realizing safer bolted joints.

References
(1) Hagiwara, M. and Yoshimoto, I.: Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 27, No. 4 (1987), pp. 398-403.
(2) Hagiwara, M. et. al.: Trans. JSME Series C (in Japanese), Vol. 79, No. 800 (2013), pp. 1189-1195.