Bolted Connection of an End-Plate Cantilever Beam: The Distribution of Operating Force

This paper presents an alternative method for calculating the operating forces on bolts in the bolted connections of the end-plate cantilever beams. Since operating force reduces pressure between the joined surfaces the influence of the operating force needs to be considered when determining the clamping force. Therefore, correctly defined operational force on each bolt is a base for all further calculations. To evaluate proposed method, results of four existing analytical methods for calculating the operating forces in the bolted connections of the end-plate cantilever beams are compared with the results of the alternative method and the results gained by finite element analyses. Because finite element analysis take into account all influential parameters it is expected that the results obtained by finite element analyses are a good approximation to reality and can serve as a reference when comparing different analytical methods. It turns out that the results of the proposed method coincide with the results of finite element analyses the most. Only the proposed method correctly determines which bolts in the connection are subjected to the highest additional loads.