• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.709-726
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• 2015

In this study, a novel vision-based bolt-loosening monitoring technique is proposed for bolted joints connecting tubular steel segments of the wind turbine tower (WTT) structure. Firstly, a bolt-loosening detection algorithm based on image processing techniques is developed. The algorithm consists of five steps: image acquisition, segmentation of each nut, line detection of each nut, nut angle estimation, and bolt-loosening detection. Secondly, experimental tests are conducted on a lab-scale bolted joint model under various bolt-loosening scenarios. The bolted joint model, which is consisted of a ring flange and 32 sets of bolt and nut, is used for simulating the real bolted joint connecting steel tower segments in the WTT. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed vision-based technique is evaluated by bolt-loosening monitoring in the lab-scale bolted joint model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.137-156
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• 2016

Due to excellent advantages such as better illuminative effects, considerable material savings and ease and rapidness of construction, the bolted ball-cylinder joint which is a new type joint system has been proposed in space truss structures. In order to reveal more information and understanding on the behaviour of bolted ball-cylinder joints, full-scale experiments on eight bolted ball-cylinder joint specimens were conducted. Five joint specimens were subjected to axial compressive force, while another three joint specimens were subjected to axial tensile force. The parameters investigated herein were the outside diameter of hollow cylinders, the height of hollow cylinders, the thickness of hollow cylinders, ribbed stiffener and axial force. These joint specimens were collapsed by excessive deformation of hollow cylinders, punching damage of hollow cylinders, evulsion of bolts, and weld cracking. The strain distributions on the hollow cylinder opening were mainly controlled by bending moments. To improve the ultimate bearing capacity and axial stiffness of bolted ball-cylinder joints, two effective measures were developed: (1) the thickness of the hollow cylinder needed to be thicker; (2) the ribbed stiffener should be adopted. In addition, the axial stiffness of bolted ball-cylinder joints exhibited significant non-linear characteristics.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.332-340
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• 2016

A design optimization is performed for the double-bolted joint in cylindrical composite structures by using a simplified analytical method. This method uses failure criteria for the major failure modes of the bolted composite joint. For the double-bolted joint with a zigzag arrangement, it is necessary to consider an interaction effect between the bolt arrays. This paper proposes another failure mode which is determined by angle and distance between two bolts in different arrays and define a failure criterion for the failure mode. The optimal design for the double-bolted joint is carried out by considering the interactive net-tension failure mode. The genetic algorithm (GA) is adopted to determine the optimized parameters; bolt spacing, edge distance, and stacking sequence of the composite laminate. A purpose of the design optimization is to maximize the burst pressure of the cylindrical structures by ensuring structural integrity. Also, a progressive failure analysis (PFA) is performed to verify the results of the optimal design for the double-bolted joint. In PFA, Hashin 3D failure criterion is used to determine the ply that would fail. A stiffness reduction model is then used to reduce the stiffness of the failed ply for the corresponding failure mode.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.983-989
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• 2017

This paper presents the bearing strength for laminates in advanced composite materials in bolted joints. Bolted single lap joint tests were experimentally investigated with respect to stabilized and unstabilized lap joints. Stabilized bolted single lap joints refer to joints with out-of-plane rotational constraints. Unstabilized bolted single lap joints refer to joints with absence of out-of-plane deflection constraints. The bearing strength values of laminates in the bolted joint showed that the percentages of ply angle for 0, 45, -45, and 90 degrees were not affected. The bearing strength value in the unstabilized bolted joint was smaller than the bearing strength value in the stabilized bolted joint because of the influence of the out-of-plane behavior. The composite material studied in this paper is a carbon/epoxy unidirectional (UD) tape prepreg cured at $177^{\circ}C(350^{\circ}F)$. In the laminate reference system, the standard angles of 0, 45, -45, and 90 degrees were used for ply orientation within the laminate. A total of 112 bolted single lap joint tests were conducted on specimens from eight distinct laminates. The ASTM-D-5961M standards were adhered to for the stabilized and unstabilized bolted single lap joint tests.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1636-1643
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• 2003

In this study, bolted joint made of Glass-Mat Reinforced Thermoplastics (GMT) specimen was under tensile loading to investigate the relation between joint strength and glass-fiber weight fraction of the flat plate specimen. The effect of molding conditions such as the initial size of a GMT charge and molding temperatures was investigated under plane strain condition. In consideration of the specimen geometry, minimum end distance and width of the specimen to induce the bearing fracture mode of the bolted joint were determined. And finally, the effect of the outer diameter of washer and clamping pressure on joint strength was also investigated. Since joint strength is dependent on the local glass-fiber weight fraction, experimentally measured strength was modified, considering its irregular values of the specimen molded under various processing conditions in order to obtain a reasonable correlation between the two.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.228-231
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• 2004

For the bolted joint of the composite structure, quasi-isotropic stacking is generally used to increase the bearing strength. For the bolted joint of uni-directional composite, the fatigue life limit of the bolted joint can be improved by applying clamping force though the static strength is still very low. In this paper, the static and fatigue characteristics of hybrid joint are investigated which can overcome the disadvantage of the bolted joint of uni-directional composite under static loading by applying adhesive joining. The experimental result shows that the static strength and fatigue life can be improved by applying clamping force to the hybrid joint and the hybrid joint is a good solution for the efficiency of the composite structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.341-351
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• 2022

During bolted flange assembly, the contact stiffness of some areas of the joint surface may be low due to the elastic interaction. In order to improve the contact stiffness at the lowest position of bolted flange, the correlation model between the initial bolt pre-tightening force and the contact stiffness of bolted flange is established in this paper. According to the stress distribution model of a single bolt, an assumption of uniform local contact stiffness of bolted flange is made. Moreover, the joint surface is divided into the compressive stress region and the elastic interaction region. Based on the fractal contact theory, the relationship model of contact stiffness and contact force of the joint surface is proposed. Considering the elastic interaction coefficient method, the correlation model of the initial bolt pre-tightening force and the contact stiffness of bolted flange is established. This model can be employed to reverse determine the tightening strategy of the bolt group according to working conditions. As a result, this provides a new idea for the digital design of tightening strategy of bolt group for contact stiffness of bolted flange. The tightening strategy of the bolted flange is optimized by using the correlation model of initial bolt pre-tightening force and the contact stiffness of bolted flange. After optimization, the average contact stiffness of the joint surface increased by 5%, and the minimum contact stiffness increased by 6%.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 1996

The dynamic characteristics of mechanical structure are strongly affected by the properties of joint parameters. In this study, the test structures are constructed with two beams which are clamped by bolts, and a bolted joint which is modelled as a lumped stiffness element. To idientify the dynamic joint parameters with variance of clamping torque of bolts, the sensitivity analysis and the mode energy analysis methods are investigated experimentally. As a reult of these two methods, stiffnesses of bolted joint are experimentally found to increase as the clamping torque increases. These stiffnesses identified from the sensitivity analysis and the mode energy analysis method have some difference.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.281-294
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• 2015

Bolted joint connection is the most commonly used connection element in structures and devices. The loosening due to external dynamic loads cannot be observed and measured easily and may cause catastrophic loss especially in an extreme requirement and/or environment. In this paper, an innovative Real-time Cross-Correlation Method (RCCM) for monitoring of the bolted joint loosening was proposed. We apply time reversal process on stress wave propagation to obtain correlation signal. The correlation signal's peak amplitude represents the cross-correlation between the loosening state and the baseline working state; therefore, it can detect the state of loosening. Since the bolt states are uncorrelated with noise, the peak amplitude will not be affected by noise and disturbance while it increases SNR level and increases the measured signals' reliability. The correlation process is carried out online through physical wave propagation without any other post offline complicated analyses and calculations. We implemented the proposed RCCM on a single bolt/nut joint experimental device to quantitatively detect the loosening states successfully. After that we implemented the proposed method on a real large structure (reaction wall) with multiple bolted joint connections. Loosening indexes were built for both experiments to indicate the loosening states. Finally, we demonstrated the proposed method's great anti-noise and/or disturbance ability. In the instrumentation, we simply mounted Lead Zirconium Titanate (PZT) patches on the device/structure surface without any modifications of the bolted connection. The low-cost PZTs used as actuators and sensors for active sensing are easily extended to a sensing network for large scale bolted joint network monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.16 no.4 s.97
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• pp.122-128
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• 1999

Bolted joint assembly for nuclear power plants consists of various components : cover plate, retainer plate, manway flange, gasket and stud bolts/nuts. To guarantee the soundness of the joint, it is important to prevent leakage through the gasket and reduce the stress concentration factor at the thread root. In this paper, Submodeling technique for the finite element method is proposed to accurately compute three dimensional contact stresses which govern the sealing performance and the maximum contact stresses at the threads root. For verification of global solutions used as boundary conditions of submodel solution, the stresses on the cover plate and the manway flange are measured by strain gages when internal pressure is applied to the bolted joint assembly. The numerical results are compared with the experimental results.