International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48

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International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping

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A contribution to the selection and calculation of screws in high duty bolted joints
Dario Croccolo*, Massimiliano De Agostinis, Nicolò Vincenzi
University of Bologna, DIEM Department of Mechanical Engineering, V.le Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The paper deals with the assessment of the correct design methodology that allows selecting the
Received 12 September 2011 appropriate screw (in terms of reference nominal diameter) to be used in high duty bolted joints. Some
Received in revised form Standards or Guidelines are analysed and discussed although the most complete appears the VDI-2230
25 February 2012
(February 2003); in many cases the simplifications adopted can only be effective in presence of steel
Accepted 25 May 2012
screws clamped on steel plates (often considered as rigid in comparison to the screw) and by considering
coefficients of friction which vary in a narrow range (0.15e0.20). Hence, the increasing use of lightweight
Keywords:
materials in recent years (e.g. magnesium, aluminium and titanium), as well as design optimisations, is
Screw
Bolt
forcing the screw designers to perform an attentive selection of the most appropriate fastening
Fastening connection. For these reasons, this contribution tries to give a compressed, but comprehensive and
Connection clearly structured view about the maximum equivalent stress acting on the bolt as a function of the
Coefficient of friction actual joint parameters (e.g. ratio between tensile and shear forces acting on the joint, ratio between bolt
and plates stiffness, effect of coefficient of friction, static or fatigue loads).
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Mechanical fastening remains a critical aspect for engineering
design. Materials and methods for analysing this problem are
constantly improving. For instance Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has
been widely used by many researchers to improve or to verify
analytical computations and, in recent years, its complexity is
significantly increasing involving three-dimensional (3D) aspects
with the use of non-linear contact analysis and non-linear material
response [1,2]. From the other side, in many cases, the important
issue of friction is experimentally neglected and/or insufficient
information is given about the actual value of the coefficients of
friction. In mechanical joint values between 0.1 and 0.2 are typically
chosen for all materials in contact (steel, aluminium, titanium, CFRP
composite) and, furthermore, these values are often considered as
constant throughout several analyses, without taking into account,
as an example, (i) the evolution of the coefficient of friction from its
initial value to a peak value due to the presence of wear produced
by several tightening and loosening operation, as well demon-
strated by some recent works (see Eccles et al. [3] and Croccolo et al.
[4]); (ii) the effect of coatings thickness on the coefficient of friction
(see Nassar et al. [5]); (iii) the effect of tightening speed on the
coefficient of friction (see Nassar et al. [6]).
The study of a generic bolted joint, either from analytical, or
numerical, or experimental viewpoint, often starts with a defined
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 (0)51 2093413.
E-mail address: dario.croccolo@unibo.it (D. Croccolo).
geometry, for both the screw(s) and the plate(s) involved in the
clamping process. In light of these considerations, the present work
deals with the assessment of a correct step-by-step design method-
ology, which allows to select the appropriate screw (in terms of
nominal diameter) to be used in high duty bolted joints (grade or class
equal to 8.8,10.9 and 12.9) as a function of the actual joint parameters
(such as (i) the ratio between tensile and shear forces acting on the
joint; (ii) the ratio between bolt and plates stiffness; (iii) the influence
of the coefficient of friction; (iv) static and fatigue loads).
2. Preliminary remarks
Whatever complex connection realized by n bolts subjected to
tensile and shear forces and/or bending and torque moments (an
example from [7] is reported in Fig. 1), can be represented by the
generic scheme reported in Fig. 2, in which the most loaded bolt of
the joint is chosen and assumed for the whole connection. In
particular, the bolt must withstand the twofold effect of the tensile
force Rn [N] (parallel to the bolt axis) that tries to separate the joint
members (plates) and of the shear force Rt [N] (perpendicular to the
bolt axis) that tries to slide the clamped plates.
For a correct utilization, the bolt must be clamped with an initial
force Fi [N], which is able to guarantee the transmission of the
aforementioned forces (as a general design rule the use of a safety
factor is suggested to magnify the external forces). The tension load
Rn can be directly equated with Fi, whereas shear load Rt is trans-
mitted via the friction developed among plates by assuming

0308-0161/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48 39

Notation Fmax maximum load [N]

Falt alternate load [N]
Fi initial force [N] saltSV alternate strength for bolt rolled before head
Rn tensile force [N] treatment [MPa]
Rt shear force [N] saltSG alternate strength for bolt rolled after head treatment
mp coefficient of friction between plates [MPa]
mt coefficient of friction of the bolt thread smean mean stress [MPa]
mu coefficient of friction of the bolt underhead sp0.2 proportional limit [MPa]
T torque moment [Nmm] a rotational angle [rad]
p thread pitch [mm] I moment of inertia of screw [mm4]
d2 mean thread diameter [mm] r radius of curvature [mm]
Dmu mean underhead diameter [mm] L half-length of the screw [mm]
K torque coefficient d nominal screw diameter [mm]
d nominal diameter [mm] E Young’s modulus [MPa]
FB maximum tensile load [N] M generic bending moment [Nmm]
DFB increase of tension on the bolt [N] Dsub substituted diameter [mm]
DFP decrease of tension on the plates [N] Asub substituted area [mm2]
C load factor dh through-hole diameter [mm]
Kb bolt stiffness [N/mm] Ip þ b moment of inertia of the system (bolt and plates)
Kp plates’ stiffness [N/mm] [mm4]
Tth torque moment acting on the bolt shank [Nmm] dp resilience of plates [mm/N]
sEQ equivalent stress [MPa] db resilience of bolt [mm/N]
sax axial stress [MPa] s distance between the axis of gyration of the joint and
st shear stress [MPa] axis of the bolt [mm]
At stress area [mm2] a distance between the axis of gyration of the joint and
Wt torsional modulus [mm3] the external load line of action [mm]
dt stress diameter [mm2] lC length of the clamped parts [mm]
FEQ equivalent force [N]

a coefficient of friction equal to mp and by applying the Coulomb law
in order to relate Rt to Fi.
The initial force Fi calculated by Eq. (1) must be generated during
the initial tightening of the bolt (bolt preload). It can be obtained in
different ways, but two of them are the most widely and frequently
adopted: torque control tightening and angle control tightening. The
angle control tightening is amply treated by Friedrich et al. in [8]
whereas, the torque control tightening, in which the preload is
generated by means of a torque wrench, will be presented and dis-
cussed in this work; the torque moment T (Nmm) (Eq. (2), for metric
ISO screws [9]) depends on the coefficient of friction (mt) of the bolt
thread (d2 ¼ d0.6495p, with d equal to the nominal diameter [mm],
is the mean thread diameter), on the coefficient of friction (mu) of the
bolt underhead (Dmu is the mean underhead diameter), on the bolt
geometry (p [mm] is the thread pitch) and on the initial force Fi.
Rt
Fi ¼ Rn þ (1)
mp
T ¼ Fi ,ð0:159,p þ 0:577,mt ,d2 þ 0:5,mu ,Dmu Þ (2)
Eq. (2) can be simplified into Eq. (3) by introducing the
dimensionless torque coefficient K. By assuming, according to EC3

Fig. 1. Example of bolted connections loaded by shear and tensile forces.

40 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48

Fig. 2. Forces acting on the bolt.

[10] for steel on steel contacts, mt and mu equal to 0.15, K becomes

equal to 0.20. Bickford [11] provides a collection of mean values of
the torque coefficient for various combinations of joint materials
and surface conditions; since the range of K values, calculated by
Bickford, is within 0.045 and 0.42 for a large number of practical
applications, it is necessary to evaluate accurately the actual value Fig. 3. Experimental specimen useful to relate the tightening torque to the bolt
of the coefficient of friction for each specific connection. preload.

T
Fi ¼ (3)
K,d FB ¼ Fi þ DFB ¼ Fi þ C,Rn (4)
To obtain the values of coefficients of friction (or torque coeffi-
The dimensionless parameter C used in Eq. (4) and defined by
cient) for a specific application it is possible to leverage the meth-
Eq. (5) is called load factor and results as a function of the bolt (kb
odology proposed by Croccolo et al. [4]: on the system composed by
[N/mm]) and plates (kp [N/mm]) stiffness (Eq. (5)).
a screw and a thin bush (made of the desired materials, roughness
and surface finishing) the imposed tightening torque is given by kb
a calibrated torque wrench and the conferred preload is controlled C ¼ (5)
kb þ kp
via strain gauges applied to the bush. In Fig. 3 is reported an
example for a titanium screw clamped on an aluminium bush with The calculation of the load factor performed via FEA is well
a steel nut (for all detail see Ref. [4]). described in a recent paper by Cornwell [13] (see also [14,15 and
16]) for different materials and geometrical configurations: the
main conclusion of the work by Cornwell is that the load factor, for
3. External loads on bolted connections practical applications and in presence of different plate materials,
can change in the range 0.1e0.45 in presence of steel bolts.
The design methodology, which leads to the selection of an
appropriate screw, must take into account the elastic behaviour of
3.1. Static load
the bolt-plates system, in particular in presence of external tensile
loads. The initial tension (preload) definition is only the first issue
In order to define the maximum static load acting during the
for the screw designers that must, then, guarantee the entire life
service on the bolt it is possible to join the previous Eq. (1) and (4)
service of joints: therefore the connections must support the initial
to obtain the following Eq. (6):
load as well as the external loads without failure during all the
expected life of the product. For this reason, the attention has to be
also dedicated to the careful study of the working loads and of the
failure modes. The well-known forceedisplacement diagram
[11,12], reported in Fig. 4 is useful to assist this study.
In brief, during the initial tightening phase the bolt (B) and the
plates (P) share the same initial force Fi (the system works as series
of springs), to which corresponds different variation in length due
to different stiffness. Once the components are clamped, an
external load parallel to the bolt axis (Rn) produces an increase of
the tension (DFB) acting on the bolt as well as a decrease of the
pressure (DFP) acting on the plates: the amounts of DFB and DFP can
be calculated as portion of the total external load Rn depending on
the stiffness of two components (the clamped members work now
as parallel of springs, with the same displacement). The accurate
definition (Eq. (4)) of the maximum tensile load (FB [N]) acting on Fig. 4. Force-displacement diagram: Fi is the initial force, FB ¼ Fi þ DFB is the actual
the screw is important in order to select the appropriate screw. load acting on the bolt during the service.
 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48
Fig. 5. Load diagrams (axial and torsional) acting on the screw during the tightening
phase.
! external (axial) load would have on the bolt tension: in such
Rt
FB ¼ Fi þ DFB ¼ Rn þ þ C,Rn
mp
In addition to the maximum tensile force FB, a torque moment Tth
[Nmm] acts on the screw body during the tightening phase, as
indicated in Fig. 5: the Tth value can be calculated by means of Eq. (7)
for metric screws [12] in which Fi and Tth are always linked together.
Tth ¼ Fi ,ð0:159,p þ 0:577,mt ,d2 Þ
According to the Von Mises yield criterion it is possible to
calculate the equivalent axial load sEQ [MPa] acting on the bolt (Eq.
(8)): the axial stress sax [MPa] is equal to FB/At whereas the
maximum torsional (shear) stress st [MPa] is equal to Tth/Wt (the
stress area At and the torsional modulus Wt are calculated using dt
[mm] diameter, equal to the average between the minimum d3 and
the mean d2 diameters of the screw, dt ¼ d0.9382p). The equiv-
alent axial load depends both on the assembly conditions (initial
force and thread coefficient of friction), and on the in service
conditions (load factor).
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  2  2
FB
sEQ ¼ s2ax þ 3,s2t ¼ þ3,
At
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u !2
u Rt Rt
¼ t þ Rn ,ð1 þ CÞ þ48,
mp mp
This formulation is reported in a similar form (tightening and
service conditions are summed as separated contributions) in the
VDI-2230, February 2003 [17]. Furthermore, in such Standard three
different scenarios are highlighted:
(i) Fully elastic tightening with small relaxation: Eq. (8) is effec-
tive because the time-dependent loss of the torsional stress is
small (about 5%e10%); this is the most severe loading scenario
for the bolt;
(ii) Fully elastic tightening with relaxation: a significant portion of
torsional stress is lost in short time after the tightening; Eq. (8)
41
should be corrected in order to better exploit the bolt by
introducing a corrective factor ks in the computation of the
equivalent stress: seq ¼ [s2ax þ3 (ks st)2]0.5; experimental tests
should be carried out in order to define ks (the value of 0.5 is
suggested as an acceptable mean);
(iii) Fully plastic tightening: the fully plastic state is reached in the
relevant cross section At only if there is constant torsional stress
over the whole cross section (support effect). This condition is
satisfied by a suggested correction to the torsional modulus of
resistance, which becomes Wt,p ¼ (p d3t )/12 (Wt,p>Wt).
Finally, it is possible to modify the load factor C depending on
the actual application point of Rn. The most severe condition is
realized when Rn is applied immediately under the screw head and
the nut (C remains unmodified according to Fig. 2); otherwise the
load factor has to be multiplied by a coefficient n that assumes
values within 1 and 0 (depending on the distance from the screw
head and the nut, see [17]).
It is important to underline that the proposed solution,
summarized in Figs. 4 and 5, is able to estimate the effect which an
discussion the behaviour of screw, nut and plates would be linear,
(6)
fully elastic and axisymmetric. Unfortunately, in the practise there
is the possibility to find bolt loads and clamping forces different
from those predicted by the aforementioned analysis: this is the
case of the phenomenon called ‘flange rotation’, which affects only
certain type of joints, but which can also be troublesome mainly
due to the bending stress introduced in the screw. Some consid-
erations about this issue are reported in the Appendix section.
(7)
3.2. Fatigue load
In many mechanical applications the external load Rn repre-
sents a cyclic load for the clamped parts. In this case, the bolt
fatigue cycle is composed by a minimum load Fmin [N] equal to Fi
and by a maximum load Fmax [N] equal to FB (see Fig. 4). The
mean Fmean [N] and the alternate Falt [N] loads are, therefore,
calculated in Eq. (9):
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
! !2ffi
u
Tth u 4,F 2 16,T
¼ t B
þ3, th
¼
Wt p,d2t p,d3t
(8)
! !2
ð0:16,p þ 0:58,mth ,d2 Þ 1 FEQ
þ Rn , , ¼
dt At At
8 DFB
>
< Fmax ¼ Fi þ
2
(9)
>
: DFB
Falt ¼
2
The bolt has high stress concentration factors, as reported in
Fig. 6, which limit its fatigue resistance [12].
Since the fatigue strength depends on a large number of factors
(for instance dimension, stress gradient, superficial roughness,
stress concentration factors, mean stress) usually unknown at the
earlier stage of design phase, it is usually advisable to start
considering a static limit with an adequate safety ratio and then, if
42 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48

Fig. 6. Bolt stress concentration factors.
necessary and depending on any specific case, to pass through the
fatigue strength verification.
To define the bolt fatigue properties it is possible to apply the
standard ISO3800 [18], in which threaded fasteners are mounted in
a fatigue-testing machine (see Fig. 7) and are subjected to fluctu-
ating tensionetension loads (tests with constant mean stress smean
or constant stress ratio smin/smax may be used). Wiegand and Haas
[19] in the early 1960s performed a set of tests with a similar
procedure on threaded fasteners made of different steels according
to German Standards (DIN17100.DIN17200): the mean stress
applied without plates between the bolt head and the nut
(according to the recent ISO3800) was set equal to 350 MPa. The
alternate fatigue limits at N ¼ 2  106 presented in [19] are reported
in Table 1 as a function of the bolt diameter; the authors considered
two different production processes even if the rolled process per-
formed after the heat treatment is recommended. It is really diffi-
cult to find in technical literature systematic and effective
experiments concerning fatigue tests performed on screws or bolts.
Recently, Lazzarin et al. [20] provided the fatigue resistance of steel
threaded rods (M16, M20 and M30, grade 8.8) embedded in
concrete and in absence of preload, while Cho et al. [21] investi-
gated the dependence of fatigue limit of high-tension bolts on
mean stress and ultimate tensile strength.
Some detailed and complete results useful to choose steel bolts
against high cycle fatigue (N ¼ 2  106) are reported in the VDI-
2230, which prescribes to calculate the axial alternating stress
salt ¼ Falt/At and to compare it with a reference value that is valid
when smean/sp0.2 is within the range 0.3e1. For bolt threads rolled
before heat treatment (SV), the allowable stress amplitudes at
2  106 cycles are given by Eq. (10) and reported in Fig. 8a, whereas
for bolts rolled after the heat treatment (SG) the allowable stress
amplitudes at 2  106 cycles are higher because the fatigue strength
is positively influenced by the residual compressive stresses
generated by plastic deformations; in this case the reference values
are given by Eq. (11) and reported in Fig. 8b.
 
150
saltSV ¼ 0:85, þ 45 (10)
d
!
smean
saltSG ¼ saltSV , 2  (11)
sp0:2
Eq. (10) is independent of the preload and it is valid for bolt
classes 8.8, 10.9 and 12.9; the factor 0.85 is inserted in order to take
into account the scatter of the data. Eq. (11), valid for the same bolt
classes, depends on the mean (static) stress as the Haigh diagram
well indicates. EC3 [10] provides a unique (rough) limit of alternate
stress at 2  106 cycles equal to 25 MPa. Unfortunately, no
systematic and standardized value can be found for screws made of
lightweight material (e.g. aluminium or titanium): in two recent
papers Arz et al. [22] and Berger et al. [23] suggest a limit of
alternate stress included between 20 MPa and 30 MPa for M8-M12
aluminium screws (EN AW 60xx and 70xx) at 107 cycles and in
presence of a standard value of smean/sp0.2 ¼ 0.7.

4. Design methodology

In order to select the appropriate screw it is necessary to verify

that sEQ (Eq. (8)) results lower than the yield of material sp0.2 [MPa]
or lower than the stress under proof load Sp [MPa] (Sp z 0.9 sp0.2

Table 1
Summary of results obtained by Wiegand and Haas [19].

Nominal diameter 8 8 8 14
Screw material St35, 61 VCMo135 VCMo125 VCMo125
Ultimate stress (MPa) 600 1100 1000 1000
smean/sp0.2 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.4
Alternate fatigue e 56 e e
limit sa,SV (MPa)
(Bolts rolled before
the heat treatment)
Alternate fatigue 87 80 102 84
limit sa,SG (MPa) (Bolts
rolled after the heat treatment)
Fig. 7. Example of threaded fastener fatigue tests.
 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48 43

Fig. 8. Allowable alternate stress according to VDI-2230: a) bolt threads rolled before heat treatment; b) bolts rolled after heat treatment.

according to ISO898). sEQ depends (i) on the preload axial stress 5. Stress ratio SR [ sEQ/si analysis
si ¼ Fi/At, (ii) on the torsion due to thread friction and (iii) on the
portion of external load C Rn acting on the screw. According to EC3 5.1. Influence of bolt dimension
[10] Eq. (8) can be simplified into Eq. (12) in case of steel plates
considered much more rigid then the bolt (C z 0) and assuming At first, the trend of SR as a function of the bolt dimension has
a standard value of thread coefficient of friction mt ¼ 0.15. been analysed, by changing the load factor C and the ratio between

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
!2ffi
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  2  2ffi u
u 4,F 2
!
Fi Tth 16,T
sEQ ¼ s2ax þ 3,s2t ¼ s2i þ 3,s2t ¼ þ3, ¼ t i
þ3, th
¼
At Wt p,d2t p,d3t
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
!2 ! !2ffi !
u
u Rt R ð0:16,p þ 0:58, m ,d Þ 1 Rt 1 (12)
¼ t
t th 2
þ Rn þ48, þ Rn , , z1:3, þ Rn , z
mp mp dt At mp At

F
z1:3, i z1:3,si
At

Rt and Rn and by fixing the value of the coefficients of friction

(mp ¼ 0.2 and mt ¼ 0.15). Results are reported in Fig. 9. As shown in
Therefore, in the presence of steel joints with low values of Fig. 9a, in presence of C ¼ 0 (tightening phase) and low values of
coefficient of friction (m < 0.15) and rigid plates (kp >> kb), the coefficient of friction, SR value is within 1.32 (M6) and 1.26 (M24)
relationship between sEQ and si (sEQ/si ¼ 1.3) can be considered as for all the analysed dimensions, whatever is the ratio between Rt/
an acceptable and useful design ratio. Rn: the bolt dimension does not affect the function value sensibly
Conversely, the increasing use of lightweight materials in recent (differences are within 5%). In presence of purely shear forces
years (e.g. titanium, aluminium and magnesium) implies to pay (Rn ¼ 0), whatever is the value of the load factor C, SR does not
attention in using Eq. (12). As a matter of fact, according to Croccolo change, whereas in presence of tensile forces it increases (not
et al. [4], the use of aluminium flanges leads to a significant increase linearly) with C: for example, in presence of bolt and plates with
in coefficient of friction: for dry conditions its value can rise from similar stiffness (kp z kb, C z 0.5), SR increases from a value of
0.26 during the first tightening (absence of wear) up to 0.39 during about 1.3 in presence of Rn ¼ 0 (pure shear force) to a value of about
the sixth tightening (presence of wear) performed on the same 1.7 in presence of Rt ¼ 0 (pure tensile force); other combinations of
joint. On the other hand the use of lightweight plates produces Rt/Rn are within these values, as shown in Fig. 9, with the exception
a load factor value that notably increases as well demonstrated by of the rare combination of C ¼ 0.75 and Rt ¼ 0. The value of 1.7 can
Cornwell [13]. be, therefore, considered as superior limit for the SR parameter in
In this case Eq. (8), which incorporates all the actual parameters, the presence of standard values for the coefficients of friction.
must be used without any simplification. An interesting issue could
be, therefore, to analyse the trend of the stress ratio SR ¼ sEQ/si as 5.2. Influence of coefficient of friction between plates
a function of the following parameters:
Since the bolt dimension does not affect significantly the value
 The bolt nominal diameter (M6.M24); of the SR, it is therefore possible to select a bolt size (e.g. M12) and
 The coefficient of friction between plates mp (0.1.1); to analyse the variation of SR as a function of the coefficient of
 The thread coefficient of friction mt (0.1.1); friction between the plates, by changing the load factor C and the
 The load factor C (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75); ratio between Rt and Rn, for a fixed value of the thread coefficient of
 The ratio between Rt and Rn (Rt ¼ 0, Rt/Rn ¼ 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 and friction (mt ¼ 0.15). Results are shown in Fig. 10. For the two extreme
Rn ¼ 0). scenarios of Rt ¼ 0 and Rn ¼ 0 the values shown previously are
found (obviously) again. In the intermediate scenarios in terms of
The following Section is, therefore, dedicated to analyse the Rt/Rn it is possible to observe a moderate increase in SR with the
stress ratio SR ¼ sEQ/si trend. increase of coefficients of friction between plates for low values of C
44 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48

Fig. 9. SR as a function of the bolt size for different values of Rt/Rn and load factor C: (a) C ¼ 0 tightening phase; (b) C ¼ 0.25; (c) C ¼ 0.5 and (d) C ¼ 0.75.

(Fig. 10b) and a sensible increase for high values of C (Fig. 10d). Also 5.3. Influence of coefficient of friction between threads
in this case with the exception of the rare combination of C ¼ 0.75
and Rt < 0.2, the SR value is lower than 1.7, in the presence of The most interesting parameter to be analysed is the thread
standard value (0.15) for the thread coefficient of friction. coefficient of friction since it realistically can change in a wide range

Fig. 10. SR as a function of the coefficient of friction between plates, for different values of Rt/Rn and load factor C: (a) C ¼ 0 tightening phase; (b) C ¼ 0.25; (c) C ¼ 0.5 and (d)
C ¼ 0.75.
 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48 45

Fig. 11. SR as a function of the coefficient of friction between threads, for different values of Rt/Rn and load factor C: (a) C ¼ 0, tightening phase; (b) C ¼ 0.25; (c) C ¼ 0.5 and (d)
C ¼ 0.75.

of values depending on the materials in contact, on the subsequent
tightening performed on the same joints and on the type of lubri-
cant potentially used. As well highlighted for steel connections in
dry conditions by Eccles et al. [3], the thread coefficient of friction
can increase up to the value of 0.78 and its discrepancy from the
first to the tenth tightening operation is equal to 55%. Also in the
case of steel-aluminium connections in dry conditions the increase
of the thread coefficient of friction is demonstrated to be significant
(þ50%) from the first to the sixth tightening operation (Croccolo
et al. [4]) up to the value of 0.39. SR trends are shown in Fig. 11.
Whatever is the load factor C and the values of Rt/Rn, SR increases
almost linearly with the thread coefficient of friction. SR always
exceeds the value of 2 starting from thread friction coefficients
values within 0.3 and 0.4 since the torsional contribution assumes
a predominant role. It is important to highlight that the use of
lubricated screws produces low values of coefficient of friction
almost in every conditions, also in replicated tightening as demon-
strated in [4]: the values are always lower than 0.17. Since SR value is
always lower than 2 when mt is lower than 0.19 (even if C is equal to
0.75), with the use of lubricants the screw can be better exploited.
VDI-2230 [17] provides five classes of coefficient of friction for
practical applications as a function of the materials/coatings in
contact and the state of lubrication: the first class (A) has values
within 0.04 and 0.10 (zinc coatings with MoS2 or solid lubricants);
the last class (E) has values > 0.3 (Al, Mg alloys in absence of
lubricants). By increasing the class, both the friction coefficients
and the scatter of data increase: the guideline suggests to achieve
coefficients of friction which fit into the second class in order to
apply high preloads with low scatters. The use of effective lubri-
cants during the tightening is, therefore, strongly suggested in
order to obtain efficient and reliable joints.
6. Example of bolt selection
A single bolted joint made of aluminium plates with steel bolts
characterized by a load factor C z 0.2 and coefficients of friction
(mp ¼ mt ¼ mu) equal to 0.3, has to transmit the following static loads:
Rn ¼ 6 kN and Rt ¼ 3 kN (Fig. 2 with safety ratio already included). Fi (Eq.
(1)) results equal to 16 kN. It is possible to calculate FEQ (Eq. (8)) starting
from M6 bolt, according to Table 2. The table indicates that an M8 bolt,
class 10.9 is a correct choice for such type of application (the smaller one
with sEQ < Sp, considering a fully elastic tightening without relaxation).
The bolt should be tightened with the initial force Fi, therefore
the percentage of Sp reached during the tightening directly due to

Table 2
Example of screw selection: C ¼ 0.2, mp ¼ mt ¼ mu ¼ 0.3, Rn ¼ 6 kN and Rt ¼ 3 kN.

Class d (mm) p (mm) At (mm2) Wt (mm3) FEQ (N) FEQ/Fi Sp (MPa) sEQ (MPa) T (N m)
8.8 6 1 20.12 21.35 29,439 1.84 580 1463 35.5
10.9 6 1 20.12 21.35 29,439 1.84 830 1463 35.5
12.9 6 1 20.12 21.35 29,439 1.84 970 1463 35.5
8.8 8 1.25 36.61 53.09 29,166 1.82 580 797 47.2
10.9 8 1.25 36.61 53.09 29,166 1.82 830 797 47.2
12.9 8 1.25 36.61 53.09 29,166 1.82 970 797 47.2
8.8 10 1.5 57.99 106.67 29,006 1.81 580 500 59.0
10.9 10 1.5 57.99 106.67 29,006 1.81 830 500 59.0
12.9 10 1.5 57.99 106.67 29,006 1.81 970 500 59.0
46 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48
the preload axial stress is 53% (Fi/(At Sp)), sensibly lower than 80%
proposed in EC3 [10] (which would have caused a bolt yielding in
this application): the ratio between the aforementioned percent-
ages reflects the ratio between FEQ/Fi (1.8 vs 1.3).
In the case of pulsating tension for Rn (from 0 to 6 kN) it is also
possible to verify if the chosen bolt is appropriate against fatigue
strength. According to Eq. (9), Fmean is equal to 16.6 kN and Falt equal
to 0.6 kN. Therefore, smean becomes 453 MPa and salt 16 MPa
(remember that the static torsional contribution is neglected in
fatigue calculation, as seen before). Being smean/sp0.2 z 0.5, Eq. (10)
provides saltSV ¼ 51 MPa, while Eq. (11) saltSG ¼ 77 MPa: the bolt is
appropriate against fatigue strength too.
7. Conclusions
A methodology for the selection of ISO metric screws, to be used
in high duty bolted joints, has been presented. Some standards as
the EC3, or guidelines as the VDI-2230, have been analysed in order
to highlight strong and weak points of the proposed formulae for
the bolt selection. The maximum (equivalent) stress acting on the
bolt has been determined accurately and compared to the initial
(preload) axial stress. The increasing use of lightweight materials
produces, from one side, the increase of coefficients of friction and
from the other the increase of load factor: for such (modern)
applications an attentive calculation must be carried out, since the
maximum (equivalent) stress can easily double the initial stress.
Finally the most important parameter to be actually controlled and
reduced in order to exploit the screw strength is the thread coef-
ficient of friction, which can be obtained in every type of parameter
combination by applying an effective lubricant during the tight-
ening operations.
Appendix
In the analysis of the behaviour of bolted joints under tension
loads (Section 3), it is always assumed that the axial external load
is applied at some point near the bolt and that it can be considered
as symmetric with respect to the bolt axis (see Fig. 2). Further-
more, the same axis of symmetry is considered for both the screw
and the plate hole. Sometimes, axial loads are applied off to one
side of the bolt (this is called a ‘prying load’); due to bending
effect, such a load can increase the amount of tensile stress
produced in the bolt by a given external force. By decreasing the
joint members stiffness, such occurrence becomes more severe, as
well demonstrated in Fig. A1: examples of standard prying actions
on classical structural connections can be easily found in Refs. [7]
or [11].
Fig. A1. Example of the effect of joint members stiffness on the screw bending.
Other examples can be found in Refs. [24,25] in clamped joints
used in front motorbike suspensions, like the ones reported in
Fig. A2. In the presence of prying loads, empirical formulae must be
derived to estimate the magnitude of stresses both for plates (see
Ref. [25]) and for screws, often based on Finite Elements Analyses.
Fig. A2. Screw clamp.
Considering for example motorbike forks screw clamps, it is
possible to calculate the displacement of the clamp extremities
(either by FEA or by analytical models) and therefore the rotation
angle a ¼ a1 þ a2. By applying Eq. (A1), valid for the beam theory (M
[Nmm] generic bending moment, I [mm4] moment of inertia of the
screw shank, E [MPa] Young’s modulus, a [rad] rotation angle, L
[mm] free length of the screw and d [mm] nominal screw diameter)
it is possible to evaluate the additional bending stress for this case
study.
8 M a
>
< ¼
E,I L
(A1)
>
: M d E,a,d
smax bending th ¼  , ¼
I 2 L,2
In the case reported in Fig. A2, the theoretical bending moment
contribution is smax_bending_th y 96 MPa if a preloading force FB of
19,500 N is applied to the screw. By means of FEA it is possible to
double check such value: a 3D model of half an M8 screw clamp is
therefore built using tetrahedral elements, as shown in Fig. A3.
The model has the following characteristics: d ¼ 8 mm,
L ¼ 18 mm, FB ¼ 19,500 N and Escrew ¼ 200,000 MPa. A thermal
preload suitable for determining a preloading force of 19,500d N is
applied to the screw shank, while the materials behaviour is linear
elastic. The validity of the analytical result smax_bending_th y 96 MPa
can be double checked by comparison with the FEA results: by
halving the difference between the values flagged on the opposite
points of the bolt shank in Fig. A4, it is possible to calculate the
bending moment contribution, which is equal to
smax_bending_FEA y 89 MPa.
The German engineering society Verein Deutscher Ingenieure has
developed in VDI2230 [17] a set of equations for analysing the effect
of praying loads (they refer to such load as ‘eccentric load’). If no
numeric calculation like FEA are done it is possible to apply the
loading scheme reported in Fig. A5. The centre line of the bolt is
offset from the centre line of the joint (axis of gyration of the joint):
s [mm] is the distance between the axis of gyration of the joint and
the axis of the bolt, a [mm] is the distance between the axis of
 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48 47

Fig. A3. FEA model of the screw clamp.

Fig. A4. Normal stress (Y axis) on the screw shank (preload þ bending)

gyration of the joint and the external load line of action, while lC
[mm] is the length of the clamped parts. In this way, the contact
pressure between joint members is not uniform. If the joint has
sufficient elasticity, merely tightening the bolt can separate the
joint along the free edge. Then, as the external tension load is built
up on the joint, the interface contact pressure changes depending
on the external load magnitude.
equivalent cylindrical substituted area Asub). From these, the
substituted diameter Dsub [mm] can be calculated according to Eq.
(A2). This constant diameter corresponds to Asub for the same plates
stiffness kp. The model assumes a linear contact pressure distri-
bution within Dsub. The moment of inertia of the system
(bolt þ plates) Ip þ b [mm4], assuming that the size of the clamped
part should not be much larger than Dsub, is reported in Eq. (A3).

In order to evaluate the additional bending on the screw, sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

according to Ref. [26], a simplify methodology based on the Asub d2h
Dsub ¼ 2, þ (A2)
following analytical model can be applied. In particular the force Rn, p 4
the distance of axes s and a, the through-hole diameter dh [mm] as
well as the bolt kb and plates kp stiffness must be known (remember
that in order to calculate the plates stiffness kp it is necessary to D4sub
Ipþb ¼ p, (A3)
evaluate the actual compression region in order to obtain the 64
48 D. Croccolo et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 96-97 (2012) 38e48

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