Self-Loosening Failure Analysis of Bolt Joints under Vibration considering the Tightening Process

Abstract

By considering the tightening process, a three-dimensional elastic finite element analysis is conducted to explore the mechanism of bolt self-loosening under transverse cyclic loading. According to the geometrical features of the thread, a hexahedral meshing is implemented by modifying the node coordinates based on cylinder meshes and an ABAQUS plug-in is made for parametric modeling. The accuracy of the finite element model is verified and validated by comparison with the analytical and experimental results on torque-tension relationship. And, then, the fastening states acquired by different means are compared. The results show that the tightening process cannot be replaced by a simplified method because its fastening state is different from the real process. With combining the tightening and self-loosening processes, this paper utilizes the relative rotation angles and velocities to investigate the slip states on contact surfaces instead of the Coulomb friction coefficient method, which is used in most previous researches. By contrast, this method can describe the slip states in greater detail. In addition, the simulation result reveals that there exists a creep slip phenomenon at contact surface, which causes the bolt self-loosening to occur even when some contact facets are stuck.