Issue 48

V. M. G. Gomes et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 48 (2019) 304-317; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.48.30 310 and the dynamic coefficient from the following load drop and respective load valley. For cases where the transition is not abrupt, Fact is very close to 1, verifying that differences between numerical and experimental sliding loads are lower. Figure 4 : Typical FE mesh of two specimens, 1+1 bolts, 2mm thick (left) and 4+4 bolts, 3mm thick (right). Red arrows mean the boundary conditions (displacement constraints due to symmetry ( X Y u =u =0 ) and displacement loading). Blue arrows intend to show in more detail the mesh of some joint components. E (MPa) ν σ Y (MPa) σ U (MPa) S355MC 210E3 0.3 400 520 S350GD 210E3 0.3 425 500 Fastening Bolt 210E3 0.3 - - Table 3 : Mechanical properties used in finite element model built in ANSYS 18.2 ( E , Young’s modulus and ν , Poisson’s ratio). Figure 5 : Conventional stress-strain curves of two steel grades under investigation (S355MC and S350GD). Detail shows the yield zone of the steel grades (left). Aspect of the specimens tested (first four (symbol N) are S355MC and last two (symbol Z) are S350GD). Preload application Many studies explain some ways to model the clamping stresses in bolted connections. According to Montgomery [9] and Kim et al. [10], one of the following processes can be used to model clamping stresses: thermal deformation, with constraint equations or by imposing initial deformations. According to the thermal deformation method, the pre-stress on bolt is generated from temperature variations and orthotropic thermal expansion coefficients to the bolt body [8, 9], while the initial deformation method allows imposing the initial displacement on bolt, becoming this method more direct than thermal deformation method. Although the mentioned methods presented their advantages, it is necessary to perform a previous calibration analysis of the parameters. In accordance to Zhang [11] there are two additional methods to apply the preload on bolts. The first one is using the pretension element method, which is a method where PRETS179 elements (provided by ANSYS) are applied directly on bolt sections previously defined. The preload force is imposed in first load step, and kept for the next load steps, reducing the work time. Another way to apply the preload is by the tightening method. In this method, the threads and helix angle geometries are considered, becoming the computation efficiency very 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 Stress  [MPa] Strain S355MC S350GD 350 400 450 500 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06