Hi Harish,

I generally use model with bolts included. We need axial and shear force at bolt. Apply all boundary conditions in your model except bolt pretension. And find the sum of forces at the bolt head. You can compare force effect with bolt strength.

Element to be used: Ansys workbench uses Solid187 element generally.

 Thank you, Deeptee for your prompt response.

Could you answer my queries as below?

1) Pretension is the lifeline of any bolted joint, how can it be excluded of the boundary conditions?

2) Does the stiffness of the bolted joint remain unaltered irrespective of whether bolts are modeled with joint flanges or modeled separately and then joined together.

3) How do you measure the soundness of the joint? In terms of gap between the flanges or maximum stress (Principal stress or von-Mises) ?

4) How is the friction between flanges and bolts head & flange taken care of ?

5) Which gap element would you recommend instead of Solid187.

Hi

1) Yes it is but when you are checking a joint you need to check if the preload is sufficient to hold the joint, right? So how can you apply it and check?

2) I think if there are two or more bodies connected by joint then apply frictional contact between them instead of making a single body.

3) To know if your joint is intact even after applying loads, you need to see what is required clamp load for that joint.

4) second point

5) why would I use gap element here?