Abstract
In a vast industrial field, the bolt-nut connection is widely used and unitized as an important machine component. In order to improve safety and for cost reduction, cheap bolt-nut connections with excellent anti-loosening performance are always needed. In this paper, the slight pitch difference is considered between the nut and bolt threads to improve the anti-loosening by focusing on the prevailing torque Tp. In the first place, during the nut screwing process, the bolt axial force Fa caused by the pitch difference is examined because previously Fa was studied by the axisymmetric FEM simulation as a substitute of the prevailing torque Tp. Next, the prevailing torque Tp is directly analyzed by changing the pitch difference through the 3D FEM simulation. The obtained prevailing torque needed for the nut rotation is in consonance with the measured value experimentally. By considering manufacturing error sometimes included, finally, the real pitch difference or of the nut is identified from the number of nut thread in contact with the bolt thread, which is measured experimentally. Then, the correctness of this α is confirmed through the prevailing torque obtained by 3D FEM simulation.
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Abbreviations
- a :
-
Pitch difference
- c x :
-
Clearance in the x-direction
- μ:
-
Friction coefficient
- T p :
-
Prevailing torque
- F α :
-
Bolt axial force between the threads
- n c :
-
The number of nut threads in contact
- p FEM :
-
Prevailing torque obtained by 3D FEM
- TExpp :
-
Prevailing torque obtained by experiment
- TRealp :
-
The real prevailing torque
- n c Exp :
-
The number of nut threads in contact obtained by experiment.
- Real c :
-
The number of nut threads in contact obtained by CAD
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Nao-Aki Noda received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kyushu University, Japan in 1984. He has been doing research and teaching at Kyushu Inst. Tech., Kitakyushu, Japan, 1984-present. He is an author of Theory of Elasticity useful for engineers and a co-author of Safety Engineering for Workers in Industry and other several books. He is a co-editor of Stress Intensity Factors Handbook, Vol. 4 & 5, Advances in Finite Element Analysis for Computational Mechanics. He is a recipient of Outstanding Paper Medal of Japan Soc. Tech. Plasticity, Sokeizai Industry Technology award from the Materials Process Tech. Ctr., a fellow of JSME (Japan Soc. Mech. Engrs.) and a fellow of JSAE (Soc. Automotive Engrs. Japan). He also received JSMS Academic Contribution Award from Japan Soc. Material Science and JSME Materials and Mechanics Division Award from Japan Soc. of Mechanical Engineers. His achievements include researches in stress analysis for notched material testing specimens, and development for large ceramics structures used for steel manufacturing machinery.
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Noda, NA., Liu, X., Sano, Y. et al. Three-dimensional finite element analysis for prevailing torque of bolt-nut connection having slight pitch difference. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 2469–2476 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0522-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0522-8