Numerical investigations on the influence of the nominal hole clearance on the plate resilience of high strength preloaded bolted joints.

Bolted connections are a highly efficient joining method, especially for constructions with mixed materials or final coated parts as well as maintenance‐friendly constructions, and significantly influence the design. The VDI 2230–1 forms the basis for the dimensioning of such joints in mechanical engineering. To meet tolerance requirements in the assembly of components and subassemblies and to enable a efficient production process, the holes for the connections are often designed as oversized round or slotted holes. However, the increased nominal hole clearance is not taken into account in the calculation steps R0 to R13 for the calculation of highly stressed bolted joints with one cylindrical bolt according to VDI Guideline 2230–1, which leads to overdimensioning or auxiliary constructions. The practical verification often can only be supported by cost‐intensive individual case studies based on laboratory tests. The investigations shown in this paper aim on the determination of the pressure distribution in the interface, the bolt resilience as well as the influence of the hole geometry on the plate resilience to create a well founded data basis for the development of an analytical calculation model according to VDI 2230–1 for bolted connections with increased nominal hole clearance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]