Bolted Joints Diagram

BOUZGHIBA Houria  Szent Istvan University- Faculty of mechanical engineering  25/10/2020

This work is part of the mini-projects supervised by Dr.

László Kátai; it is under the title of "Bolted Joints
Diagrams".
In this mini-project, we are going to discuss how to build the
joint diagram while making the analogy between the bolted
joints and the springs. Moreover, we will analyze the
parameters that make up the diagram, as well as we will see
how to calculate these parameters through an example.
 Bolted Joints Diagram

1- Introduction
To help visualise the loading
within bolted connections,
joint diagrams have been
developed. A joint diagram is
a means of displaying the load
deflection characteristics of
the bolt and the material that
it clamps. Joint diagrams can
be used to assist in
visualising how a bolted joint
sustains an external force; so,
Fig.2. Bolt stiffness.
for that we will consider a bolt
as a spring. In elastic range of loading, both
bolt and joint members behave like
1-1- Bolt and Joint behaviour in a spring.
Absence of External Load
𝐾𝐵 → 𝐾𝑒𝑞 for more correct
evaluation.

Fig.1. Spring stiffness Fig.3. Joints stiffness.

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Joint is subjected to equal and
opposite to that sustained by the
bolt. In absence of any external
load, FJ = FB.
Because the load in bolt and joint
is always equal, the force-
displacement plots for both can be
shown using the same horizontal
axes.
Deflection of joint and bolt depends
on their stiffnesses.
When the bolt stiffness is superior
to joint stiffness, the diagram will
be as shown in Fig.4.
Fig.4. Joints diagram when 𝑲𝑩 ≫
𝑲𝑱 .
When the joint stiffness is superior
to bolt stiffness, the diagram will
be as shown in Fig.5.
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 Bolted Joints Diagram
Fig.5. Joints diagram when 𝑲𝑱 ≫
𝑲𝑩 .
1-2- Joint Behaviour under
External Load
In earlier discussion we
established that bolt and joint
behave like two springs placed in
series. Which means that the
tensile force in the bolt equals the
compressive force in the joint
members.
When the bolt is tightened, the bolt
and the joint deform by different
amount depending on their
stiffnesses (Joint stiffness > bolt
stiffness). In absence of any
external load, the bolt tension is
always equal to the compressive
load on the joint and behaves the
following ways. (The plots below
have the same vertical and
horizontal scales, but different
origin).
When external load of amount Fext
is applied to the bolt, the bolt
stretches and joint deformation
can be drawn in a graph adjacent
to each other when stiffness values
are known.
 Bolted Joints Diagram

Fig.6. Joint diagram with

external load.
When stiffness values of bolt and
joint are known, the above diagram
can be drawn to scale for any value
of the preload.
𝐾𝐵 . ∆𝐿𝐽 is load necessary to stretch
the bolt by the amount joint
compression before external load is
applied.

Since: 2- Application example

∆𝐹𝐵 = 𝐾𝐵 . 𝑋 and ∆𝐹𝐽 = 𝐾𝐽 . 𝑋

In this example; we will try to draw
So: joint diagram, considering:
𝑿 𝑁
𝑭𝒆𝒙𝒕 = ∆𝑭𝑩 + ∆𝑭𝑱 = [1] Bolt stiffness: 𝐾𝐵 = 200 × 103
𝑲𝑩 + 𝑲𝑱 𝑚

𝑁
∆𝐹𝐽 is the reduction of compressive Joint stiffness: 𝐾𝐽 = 600 × 103 𝑚
load in the joint which must be
overcome by the external load Preload in the bolt: 𝐹𝐵 = 8000 𝑁
before increasing the load on bolt.
𝐹𝑒𝑥𝑡 = 4000 𝑁
External load ( 𝐹𝑒𝑥𝑡 = 𝐹𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡 ) needed We need to calculate first bolt
to create separation between bolt extension due to external load:
head and the joint surface (zero
joint load). 𝐹𝐵 4000 ×10−3
𝑋= = = 5.10−3𝑚
𝐾𝐵 +𝐾𝐽 200+600
𝐹𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡 = 𝐹𝐵 + ∆𝐹𝐵 (At ZERO joint load)
Then we need to calculate the
Also, at zero joint load: critical load:
𝐹
∆𝐹𝐵 = 𝐾𝐵 . ∆𝐿𝐽 = 𝐾𝐵 . 𝐾𝐵 1 + 𝐾𝐵 1 + 200
𝐽 𝐹𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡 = 𝐹𝐵 . = 8000 ×
𝐾𝐽 600
𝑭 𝟏+𝑲𝑩
𝑭𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕 = 𝑭𝑩 + 𝑲𝑩 . 𝑲𝑩 = 𝑭𝑩 . [II] = 10640 𝑁
𝑱 𝑲𝑱

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  Bolted Joints Diagram

To built the joint diagram, we need Step 7: Prepare a vertical line of 2

to follow those steps:
Step 1: First we select a graph
with vertical and horizontal grid
lines, we select origin at O, and we
draw axes Oy and OB as shown in
Fig.7.
Step 2: We need to select a
suitable scale, here we use:
Y-axis: 2000N/unit
X-axis: 5.10−3 N/unit
units in length that represents
4,000 N of external load as shown
at top right in the diagram below.
Step 8: Slide this line toward point
C while keeping it vertical at all
times until it touches line OF at D
and line BC at E. Measure distance
CG (1 unit = 5 x 10-3 m) as the
additional bolt stretch due to
external load, DE.

Step 3: We calculate the bolt

stretch: Step 9: Draw a vertical line from
𝐹𝐵 8000 point B. Let this line intersect bolt
∆𝐿𝐵 = = = 40. 10−3 m
𝐾𝐵 200×103 stiffness line OF at F. The vertical
After that, we draw line OA with A distance BF (5.3 units = 10,600 N)
8units to the right from O. now represents the critical external
load.
Step 4: Identify point C 4 units
above point A as the 8,000 N bolt
load. Draw a line to join point O to
C to represent bolt stiffness.

Step 5: We need to calculate also

the joint compression:
𝐹𝐽 8000
∆𝐿𝐽 = = = 13.33 . 10−3 m
𝐾𝐽 600×103

which is 2.67 units to the right of

A along X-axis. Mark this point as
B and join B and A. Pont B
represent the origin of joint load- Fig.7. Joint diagram for the
compression plot. previous example.

Step 6: Extend line OC to point F

and beyond.

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