Display Bolt/Nut Resultant Forces

Display a table of resultant bolt and nut forces.

  1. On the Project Tree, open the Analysis Workbench.
  2. On the workbench toolbar, click the (Bolt/nut resultant forces) icon.
    The Bolt/nut forces dialog will open and display a table of resultant forces for tightened or not tightened bolts and nuts.
  3. Click the desired tab to display either Bolts or Nuts.
  4. Select any column header to sort the table by that header.
  5. Select any row to display a forces summary.
    Note: When the resultant axial force of the bolt/nut deviates by over 10%, the following occurs:
    • In the Project Tree, a warning icon appears next to the Results branch. Right-click on the Results and select Warnings to view.


      Figure 1.
    • In the Bolt/Nut forces dialog, nuts with significant deviation are marked in red and deviation from the target is listed.


      Figure 2.

Evaluated Forces

Description of which bolt/nut forces are evaluated.

Bolts

For bolts, the following forces are evaluated in the cross-section at the base of the bolt head in location #1:
  • Axial force
  • Shearing force
  • Bending movement
as well as the corresponding nuts at location #2:
  • Axial force
  • Thread shear force
  • Bending movement (about centroid of bolt threads.


Figure 3.

For blind bolts, the second group of forces are evaluated in the centroid of the threads at the bottom of the bolt.

Nuts

In nut tightening (where a corresponding bolt is not present), the following forces are evaluated in the nut threads:
  • Thread shear force
  • Bending movement (about centroid of bolt threads)

Thread shear force is the total force that acts on the nut threads along nut axis. This force defines the main failure mode of threads through shear and can be used for threads sizing. In particular case of a bolt which can freely slide in the placement holes and is tightened by a nut, the force will be same as axial force on the bolt.