Experimental and numerical studies of bolted joints subjected to torsional excitation

The dynamic response of bolted joints subjected to torsional excitation is investigated experimentally and numerically. First, the effects of the initial preload and the angular amplitude on axial force loss of the bolt were studied. Second, the change of hysteresis loops with the increasing number of loading cycles was found under a larger torsional angle. At last, a fine-meshed three-dimensional finite element model was built to simulate the bolted joint under torsional excitation, from which the hysteresis loops were obtained under varying angular amplitudes. The results of numerical analysis are in good agreement with those of experiments.