• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.551-563
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• 2022

Bolted connector could be an alternative to replace the conventional welded headed stud in steel-ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) lightweight composite structures. In this paper, a novel demountable bolted shear connector, consisting of a high-strength bolt (HSB) and a specially-designed nut which is pre-embedded in a thin UHPC slab, is proposed, which may result in the quick installation and disassembly, due to the mountable, demountable and reusable features. In order to study the shear behavior of the new type of bolted shear connector, static push-out tests were conducted on five groups of the novel demountable bolted shear connector specimens and one group of conventional welded headed stud specimen for comparison. The effect of the bolt shank diameter and aspect ratio of bolt on failure mode, shear stiffness, peak slip at the steel-UHPC interface, shear strength and ductility of novel bolted connectors is investigated. Additionally, design formula for the shear strength is proposed to check the suitability for assessment of the novel demountable bolted shear connectors.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.341-351
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• 2022

During bolted flange assembly, the contact stiffness of some areas of the joint surface may be low due to the elastic interaction. In order to improve the contact stiffness at the lowest position of bolted flange, the correlation model between the initial bolt pre-tightening force and the contact stiffness of bolted flange is established in this paper. According to the stress distribution model of a single bolt, an assumption of uniform local contact stiffness of bolted flange is made. Moreover, the joint surface is divided into the compressive stress region and the elastic interaction region. Based on the fractal contact theory, the relationship model of contact stiffness and contact force of the joint surface is proposed. Considering the elastic interaction coefficient method, the correlation model of the initial bolt pre-tightening force and the contact stiffness of bolted flange is established. This model can be employed to reverse determine the tightening strategy of the bolt group according to working conditions. As a result, this provides a new idea for the digital design of tightening strategy of bolt group for contact stiffness of bolted flange. The tightening strategy of the bolted flange is optimized by using the correlation model of initial bolt pre-tightening force and the contact stiffness of bolted flange. After optimization, the average contact stiffness of the joint surface increased by 5%, and the minimum contact stiffness increased by 6%.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.709-726
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• 2015

In this study, a novel vision-based bolt-loosening monitoring technique is proposed for bolted joints connecting tubular steel segments of the wind turbine tower (WTT) structure. Firstly, a bolt-loosening detection algorithm based on image processing techniques is developed. The algorithm consists of five steps: image acquisition, segmentation of each nut, line detection of each nut, nut angle estimation, and bolt-loosening detection. Secondly, experimental tests are conducted on a lab-scale bolted joint model under various bolt-loosening scenarios. The bolted joint model, which is consisted of a ring flange and 32 sets of bolt and nut, is used for simulating the real bolted joint connecting steel tower segments in the WTT. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed vision-based technique is evaluated by bolt-loosening monitoring in the lab-scale bolted joint model.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.36-39
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• 2011

In this paper, performance of EMI interface and multi-channel wireless impedance sensor node is evaluated for SHM on bolted connection. To achieve the objective, following approaches are implemented. Firstly, an interface washer is designed to monitor loosened bolt through the variation in EMI of interface washer due to change in preload in bolt. Secondly, a multi-channel wireless impedance sensor node based on Imote2 platform is designed for automated and cost-efficient impedance-based SHM on bolted connections. Finally, performance of the multi-channel wireless impedance sensor node and the interface washer are experimentally validated for a lab-scale bolted connection model. A damage monitoring method using RMSD index of EMI signatures is utilized to examine the strength of each individual bolted connection.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-5
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• 2003

By using an approach developed to determine the torque-tension relationship for bolted joints, frictional properties of several typical bolted joints were studied experimentally. The specific property by bolted joints certify that the most significant influence of materials and bearing surface condition. Experiments on thread friction shows that prevailing torque nuts with distorted threads provide benefit for preventing self-loosening of the nut. Repeated tightening-loosening generally increases frictions in a bolted joint. It was noted that the data scatter of the experimental results of frictions in a belted joint may overshadow the influence of size. speed, and contact positions. The results from the experimental investigation will help to better design bolted joints.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.137-156
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• 2016

Due to excellent advantages such as better illuminative effects, considerable material savings and ease and rapidness of construction, the bolted ball-cylinder joint which is a new type joint system has been proposed in space truss structures. In order to reveal more information and understanding on the behaviour of bolted ball-cylinder joints, full-scale experiments on eight bolted ball-cylinder joint specimens were conducted. Five joint specimens were subjected to axial compressive force, while another three joint specimens were subjected to axial tensile force. The parameters investigated herein were the outside diameter of hollow cylinders, the height of hollow cylinders, the thickness of hollow cylinders, ribbed stiffener and axial force. These joint specimens were collapsed by excessive deformation of hollow cylinders, punching damage of hollow cylinders, evulsion of bolts, and weld cracking. The strain distributions on the hollow cylinder opening were mainly controlled by bending moments. To improve the ultimate bearing capacity and axial stiffness of bolted ball-cylinder joints, two effective measures were developed: (1) the thickness of the hollow cylinder needed to be thicker; (2) the ribbed stiffener should be adopted. In addition, the axial stiffness of bolted ball-cylinder joints exhibited significant non-linear characteristics.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.332-340
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• 2016

A design optimization is performed for the double-bolted joint in cylindrical composite structures by using a simplified analytical method. This method uses failure criteria for the major failure modes of the bolted composite joint. For the double-bolted joint with a zigzag arrangement, it is necessary to consider an interaction effect between the bolt arrays. This paper proposes another failure mode which is determined by angle and distance between two bolts in different arrays and define a failure criterion for the failure mode. The optimal design for the double-bolted joint is carried out by considering the interactive net-tension failure mode. The genetic algorithm (GA) is adopted to determine the optimized parameters; bolt spacing, edge distance, and stacking sequence of the composite laminate. A purpose of the design optimization is to maximize the burst pressure of the cylindrical structures by ensuring structural integrity. Also, a progressive failure analysis (PFA) is performed to verify the results of the optimal design for the double-bolted joint. In PFA, Hashin 3D failure criterion is used to determine the ply that would fail. A stiffness reduction model is then used to reduce the stiffness of the failed ply for the corresponding failure mode.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.172-178
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• 2003

Two types of bolted lap joints, one with a viscoelastic layer and the other without the viscoelastic layer were chosen to analyze the dynamic characteristics of the joints with the mechanical properties of the bolts in the joints are considered as computational variables. The finite element method was used along with the modal testing to verify the PEM model. The results in the bolted lap joints reveal that the higher the Young's modulus for the bolts we use the higher the natural frequencies we obtain fur the joints. However, the natural frequency differences in the first and second mode are not substantial but become noticeable in the higher modes. Lower natural frequencies were obtained for the bolted lap joints with the viscoelastic layer when compared with those of the bolted lap joints without the viscoelastic layer. And the differences in the natural frequencies for the two types of joints are relatively small in the first and second mode whereas in the higher mode the differences become significant. The loss factors were observed to be significant especially in the second mode for the bolted lap joints with the viscoelastic layer.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.5
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• pp.557-568
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• 2019

Accurate modeling of contact interface in bolted joints is crucial in predicting the dynamic behavior for bolted assemblies under external load. This paper presents a contact pressure distribution based non-uniform virtual material method to describe the joint interface of assembly structure, which is connected by sparsely distributed multi-bolts. Firstly, the contact pressure distribution of bolted joints is obtained by the nonlinear static analysis in the finite element software ANSYS. The contact surface around bolt hole is divided into several sub-layers, and contact pressure in each sub-layer is thought to be evenly. Then, considering multi-asperity contact at the micro perspective, the relationship between contact pressure and interfacial virtual material parameters for each sub-layer is established by using the fractal contact theory. Finally, an experimental platform for the dynamic characteristics testing of a beam lap structure with double-bolted joint is constructed to validate the efficiency of proposed method. It is found that the theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental results by impact response in both time- and frequency-domain, and the relative errors of the first four natural frequencies are less than 1%. Furthermore, the presented model is used to examine the effect of rough contact surface on dynamic characteristics of bolted joint.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.237-258
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• 2022

This paper studies detecting and locating loose bolts using nonlinear guided waves. The 3D Finite Element (FE) simulation is used for the prediction of guided waves' interactions with loose bolted joints. The numerical results are verified by experimentally obtained data. The study considers bolted joints consisting of two bolts. It is shown that the guided waves' interaction with surfaces of a loose bolted joint generates Contact Acoustic Nonlinearity (CAN). The study uses CAN for detecting and locating loose bolts. The processed experimentally obtained data show that the CAN is able to successfully detect and locate loose bolted joints. A 3D FE simulation scheme is developed and validated by experimentally obtained data. It is shown that FE can predict the propagation of guided waves in loose bolts and is also able to detect and locate them. Several numerical case studies with various bolt sizes are created and studied using the validated 3D FE simulation approach. It is shown that the FE simulation modeling approach and the signal processing scheme used in the current study are able to detect and locate the loose bolts in imperfect bolted joints. The outcomes of this research can provide better insights into understanding the interaction of guided waves with loose bolts. The results can also enhance the maintenance and repair of imperfect joints using the nonlinear guided waves technique.