• 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%.