Session 1547

The Bolt Load Equations: A Teaching Tool

Ed Gohmann
Purdue University School of Technology
New Albany, Indiana

Page 3.549.1
 Session 1547

The Bolt Load Equations: A Teaching Tool

Ed Gohman
Purdue University School of Technology
New Albany, Indiana

Introduction: Most of the Mechanical Engineering Technology students enrolled with Purdue
University Programs are part time and going to school at night. Typically they attend 6 to 8
semesters to earn the Associate of Science degree. As a result of this time span they are several
semesters away from the prerequisites courses when they enroll in Machine Elements which is a
fourth semester course. In addition they have not been exposed to many of the derivations of the
equations they use. Since many of the MET students end their technical education with the AS
degree, Machine Elements serves as an excellent course to pull together the fundamentals from
courses they have completed in order to both review them and to illustrate their use in obtaining
concepts and equations for applied engineering. Studying the derivation of the bolt load
equations serves as a prime example of achieving this goal. This derivation does not appear in
Machine Design texts geared for the sophomore MET student.

Derivation: The starting point for this derivation presents an opportunity to review and to
expand the students understanding of linear springs. Linear springs are usually first presented in
a course on statics with the relationship

1) F=kx
F=load
x=change in length
k=spring constant

The examples of the application of this equation center around coiled springs either in tension or
compression. Modeling a bolt and bolted plates as springs takes some additional explanation but
this is fundamental to obtaining the final relationship. Here a review of an expression from
Strength of Materials for the elongation of a rod under load is used. (The student may or may not
have been presented with the origin of the following equation but in either case is prompted to
review his strength text for details.)

FL
2) G=
AE
G =elongation
L=appropriate length
A=cross sectional area
(=Modulus of elasticity
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This is obtained from the relationship between stress and strain for some metals
 V (H
V stress
H = strain

which further ties in the bolt load equations to fundamental experimental facts. The student is
assigned the derivation of equation 2) as a review exercise. This can be used to show that all
springs are not round coiled springs, thereby leading to modeling a bolt and bolted members as
linear springs.

The student is instructed to put this relationship (2) in the form of equation (1) which results in

AE
3) F G
L

AE
Some students will immediately recognize that k can be written as which is the first time
L
they have an ability to calculate the spring constant from the geometric and physical properties of
the “spring.” They are cautioned here that getting the actual value of k is not as easy as it would
appear from this equation.

Connecting this equation to the physics of a bolted joint requires some assumptions. First, the
model of the joint to be examined is presented. Figure (1). The necessity of these assumptions is
explained in the light of keeping the model joint from being unduly complicated, thus gaskets
and washers are omitted and the load is applied under the heads of the bolt and the nut. For those
students who need a visual aid, two 4 inch square by 1 inch thick steel plates have been bolted
together with a ½ inch bolt. In addition a torque wrench has been obtained to further illustrate
the tightening process. The process of tightening a nut is described relating the concept of
preload to torque.

When a bolt is tightened in this model, it elongates. This initial stretching puts the bolt in tension
which tension is the preload, (Fi) . With the proper micrometer this stretch can be measured.
Call this initial elongation,Gb . Next the bolted plates are considered as springs in compression,
following the same spring equation as the bolts except that the combined length of the plates (or
total thickness ) is shortened. Thus the bolt has stretched an amount G b and the plates have
compressed a total amount of G p .

Here a brief review of free body diagrams is presented. Taking the bolt as a free body, the
compressed plates tend to expand putting the load Fp on the bolt. This force tending to elongate
the bolt is opposed by the tension in the bolt brought on by Fp. Call this force Fb. From the
conditions of statics Fp - Fb = 0 for equilibrium of the bolt. Due to the initial tightening both of
the forces equal Fi, the preload. When an applied load is placed on the joint it acts with the
tendency of the plates to expand resulting with an equilibrium given by

4) Fa + Fp - Fb = 0
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Fa causes the compression of the plates to decrease resulting in a decrease in Fp by an amount
' Fp. This same Fa causes and increase in the bolt load ' Fb.

Since the initial load in the plates was Fi, Fp becomes Fi - ' Fp and Fb becomes Fi + ' Fb. Thus

5) Fa +( Fi- ' Fp ) - (Fi + ' F b) = 0

Simplifying results in

6) ' F b = Fa - ' Fp

It is stressed at this point that this relation states that the increase in the bolt load is not the entire
applied load but that part of the applied load is offset by a decrease in the contribution of the
compressed plates resulting in the fact that the bolt experiences only a fraction of the applied
load. This is not intuitively obvious.

The student is asked to consider the changes in bolt and plate length when the external load is
applied. As was noted the initial length changes were due to the tightening of the nut, G b and G p .
Additional length changes due to applied load are then ' G b and ' G p . It is stressed that these
changes are equal. From here on the final steps in the derivation are presented to the student as
an exercise in basic algebra with emphasis on the physical meaning of the various terms.

The change in Fb and Fp are then, from equation (1),

' Fb = kb 'G b
' Fp=kp 'G p

These follow from equation (3) with

Ab E b Ap E p
kb= and kp= .
Lb Lp
Substituting in equation (6) yields

kb 'G b = Fa - kp 'G p
but 'G b = 'G p, call it 'G .
Fa
Thus kb 'G =Fa-kp 'G and 'G =
kb  k p

Since the total load in the bolt is

Fb = Fi + ' Fb
Fb = Fi + kb 'G
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b
then
 kb Fa
7) or Fb = Fi +
kb  k p
Similarly

Fp = ' Fp - Fi
Fp = kp 'G p
kp
8) or Fp = Fa -Fi
k p  kb

Equations (7) and (8) are commonly presented as the equations of the loads in a bolted joint.

This, for some students, is the first derivation of some complexity that results in a mathematical
model of a machine element. The interaction of algebra and physics is clearly reviewed.

Conclusions:

For those students who have never tightened a bolted joint, this derivation serves to introduce
them to the practical consequences of the mathematics and physics they have studied. For those
familiar with nuts and bolts this gives them further insight into the care that must be taken to
insure a joint functions as designed. It is stressed for both groups of students that these equations
are only a beginning step in the study of bolted joints and the more study and considerable
experience are required.

1. Edwards, K.S. Jr. And McKee, Robert B., Fundamentals of Mechanical Component Design, New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1991.

2. Shigley, Joseph Edward and Mitchell, Larry D., Mechanical Engineering Design, 4th ed, New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1991.

3. Doughtie, U.L., Vallance, Alex, Friesle, L.T., Design of Machine Members, 4th ed, New York: McGraw-Hill,
1964.

ED GOHMAN is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology with Purdue University School of
Technology at New Albany, Indiana. He has over twenty years experience teaching machine elements. He has a
MME degree from the University of Louisville (1961) and a BSAE from Notre Dame (1952).

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Fa Fa

Fa Fa

FIG. 1

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