Bolt Design Project

#14 Fisher / #66 Tanner / #70 Trotter

There are many fastener options available when tasked to clamp together two or more materials
such as those in Figure 1 (from the handout). Aside from some basic restrictions such as length
4" minimum to ensure sufficient room for a hex nut there is considerable freedom to customize
a bolts geometry to improve its factors of safety for a given loading condition.
After taking some expert recommendations from Shigley and Faires, we opted to reduce the bolt
diameter in certain locations and add a necked-down section immediately before the threads, as can
be seen in Figure 2 (bolt render) as well as in the included -scale model of the redesigned bolt.
These changes in the bolt geometry will significantly affect the bolt stiffness, and in turn this will
affect the joint constant C. The joint constant represents the fraction of the external load applied to
the connection that is carried by the bolt itself; accordingly, the value (1 C) represents the fraction
of the external applied load that is carried by the members (in our case, the cast iron, copper, and
steel). Logically, in order to reduce the stress in the bolt, it is desirable to reduce the joint constant C
such that the bolt carries a lighter load, although care must be taken to ensure that the modifications
do not compromise the bolt's structural integrity.
Safety Factor
nfatigue threads
nfatigue head
nfatigue reduced area
nps
ny
njs

Bolt 1
1
1.866
1.244
1.268

Bolt 2
1.635
1.22
1.929
2.113
1.267
1.236

Bolt 3
3.146
2.327
3.735
3.874
1.444
2.265

Table 1: Factors of Safety

Compared to a standard 4" bolt (Bolt 1 in Table 1, see Figure 1) with a fatigue safety factor of
1 in the threaded area, the bolt with redesigned geometry still using the same material (Bolt 2 in
Table 1, see Figure 2) has a thread fatigue safety factor that is 63.5% greater. The new limiting factor
of safety is at the bolt head, where there is a fatigue safety factor of 1.22 due to the stress
concentration originating from the 0.75" radius.
Keeping the redesigned geometry and upgrading to a more expensive material with improved
properties (Bolt 3 in Table 1, see Figure 3) results in further increase in the relevant factors of safety
the thread fatigue safety factor is now 215% greater, and the new limiting fatigue safety factor at
the bolt head is 2.327, an improvement of 133% over the standard bolt.
We can conclude that the fatigue behaviors of the redesigned bolts are improved due to a
combination of factors such as:

The bolt stiffness kb was reduced while the member stiffness km remained unchanged. This
leads to more of the applied load being carried by the members rather than the bolt,
reducing the stress fluctuations in the bolt. Since the bolt experiences lower alternating
stresses, the fatigue factor of safety is improved.

Upgrading to a material of higher tensile and yield strength also results in an increase in the
fatigue endurance limit. Naturally, with all else equal, a higher endurance limit results in
higher fatigue factors of safety.

When upgrading to a material of higher tensile and yield strength, the maximum bolt preload
also increases. The bolt preload places the clamped members in compression, and if any
externally applied tensile load on the connection does not exceed the preload magnitude, the
bolt itself will not even experience any additional external load, as it will be carried by the
members relaxing from their compressed state due to the preload. Thus the bolt experiences
reduced stresses due to external loads when the preload is increased.

Figure 1. Basic bolt design

Figure 2. Improve bolt design using high-strength steel

Figure 3. Custom bolt design with exotic metal AerMet 100 (copyright ARP)