Effect of clamping force and coefficient of friction on the elastic-plastic behavior of cracked bolted joint

The effect of clamping force, F-c, and coefficient of friction, mu, on the elastic-plastic behavior of cracked bolted joint has been studied numerically using 3-D elastic-plastic extended finite element method. Two different failure modes of a single steel plate which contain a fastener hole are considered, i.e. net tension and bearing mode of failures. It was found that, F-c and mu have a significant effect on the development of the monotonic plastic zone around the tip of the crack emanating from fastener hole. The effect of F-c and mu on mode I stress intensity factor, K-I, of such a crack is more pronounced when the crack tip still beneath the washer. In this region, K-I is almost constant regardless the length of the crack. When the crack grows outside the washer, second region, K-I increased with increasing the crack length. In both regions, K-I decreased with increasing F-c and mu. (C) 2018 Ain Shams University.