Exercise 14: Bolt

Connectors

In this exercise, we will use bolt connectors to replace the physical bolts and eye
bolt. With the absence of the eye bolt, the external load is applied as a remote load.
This exercise reinforces the following skills:

Problem
Statement

Pin Connectors on page 195.

List Pin/Bolt/Bearing Force on page 203.

A bar is attached to a base plate with two loose fitting bolts: bolt
diameter is 12 mm, hole diameter is 12.2 mm.
Eye bolt
Base Plate

Bolts

Bar
The base plate is supported along both sides. The eye bolt is loaded in vertical
and horizontal directions with 1,100 N [247 lb] forces, as indicated in the figure
below. It is assumed that the eye is rather stiff and provides a nearly rigid
connection between the forces and the strip.
Both the bar and the base plate are manufactured from steel AISI 1020.

Fixed Support

Fixed Support

Vertical
Load 1,100
N.

Horizontal
Load 1,100 N

Determine the maximum stress and deformation for the components.

Also determine the forces in the bolts.

Open an assembly file.

Open bolt joints from
Lesson07\Exercises
folder.
The bolts, nuts and washers have
been suppressed. This is because in
this exercise we will use bolt
connectors. To
account for the missing eyebolt, we will apply the horizontal load as a remote load
on the cantilever beam.

Set SolidWorks Simulation options.

Set the global system of units to SI (MKS) and the units of Length and
Stress to mm and N/m^2, respectively.

Create Study.
Create a static study named two bolts - torque preload.

Apply material.
Apply AISI 1020 steel as the material for both parts.

Create Bolt Connectors.

Create two Standard bolt
connections with nut.

Edges
defining bolt
heads

Use 24 mm for the diameter of

the head and nut, and
12 mm for the diameter of the
bolt.
Make sure that the Tight Fit
option is not checked- the bolts
are loose fitting.
Use Alloy Steel for the Material.
Apply the Torque preload of 160 N-m [1416 lb-in] with the Friction factor of
0.2.
Note

You can verify with hand calculations that the corresponding axial bolt preload
force is 66,666N [16,860 lb]. Consequently, bolt tensile stress equals 590 MPa
[96,160 psi] which is 95% of the yield strength of Alloy Steel.
Show Exploded View.

Define Contact conditions.

For correct modeling of bolted connections we need
to define a contact condition between the two
assembly components.
Because we expect a horizontal slide along the
interface, a local No penetration, Node to
surface or Surface to surface contact condition
is required.
Define a No penetration, Node to surface contact set between the two
components, as indicated in the figure.

Apply remote load.

As mentioned in the beginning of this problem, we assume that the eye
bolt is rather rigid. Thus, use the Load/Mass Rigid connection option.
Select both the bottom and the top contact faces as
Faces, Edges or Vertices for Remote
Load/Mass. This reflects the reality in which most
of the loads are transmitted through the friction
forces between the bolt head/nut and the bar.
Apply horizontal and vertical forces, both
at a magnitude of 1,100
N, as indicated in the figure.
Use local Coordinate System1 to
specify the location of the force (0, 0, 51
mm) and the magnitude
(1100 N, 0, 1100 N).

Apply fixture.
Apply a Fixed Geometry fixture to the
two side faces on the base plate.

10 Mesh assembly.
Select Curvature based mesh under
Mesh Parameters.
Create High quality mesh with the default settings.
11 Run the analysis.
12 Review Results
13 .
14

Review the area where the highest

15

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22

16
stresses are located and notice that the size of the hot spot is smaller
than that of the element size. Therefore, stresses in this area are reported with a
large error. Mesh refinement would be required to obtain more accurate maximum
stress results.

23
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32
33
34

35 Plot details of deformation.

36
Analyze the details of the
deformation in magnified scale.

37

39

38
It can be seen that the
bar and the base plate separate
from each other.

40 Review bolt forces.

42

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50
51
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53
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55
56
57
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41
The axial bolt forces in Bolt Connector-1 and Bolt Connector-2
are 66,667 N and 69,057 N.
43
As compared to the bolt preload of 66,666 N, the effect of the external
load is very small. A negligible change in bolt axial load is desirable if we want to
avoid bolt loosening.

60 Save and Close the file.

61

62

Exercise 22:

Beam Elements

63
The simplified model
of a conveyor frame (shown
64
in the figure) is
manufactured from Plain
65
Carbon Steel with all
the joints welded.

66

67
During the inspection,
it was found that the weld at
the indicated joint
68
became defective and
was not capable of
69
transmitting
the moments.

80
All six legs of the frame are bolted to the ground but only the two
inclined legs can actually transmit the moments to the floor.

81

87

88
1

90
2

93
3

76
M
oment
Foundatio
n

78
In this exercise you will analyze the frame when subjected to the
extreme operating loading conditions (combination of an isolated force and a
moment).

79

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86

72
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77

83

71
Defective
weld

82

This exercise reinforces the following skills:

Mixed Meshing on page 362.

Beam elements on page 363.
Beam Joint Types on page 367.
Bending Moment and Shear Force Diagrams on page 377.
Applying Loads on page 370.

Procedure

Follow the steps below:

Open a part file.

89
folder.

Open Conveyor Frame located in the Lesson10\Exercises

Set SolidWorks Simulation options.

91
Set the global system of units to SI (MKS) and the units of Length and
92
Stress to mm and N/m^2, respectively.
Create new study.
94

Create a new static study named frame.

95
96
4

Beam elements.
97
Expand the folder Conveyor
Frame and you can see that all the solid
bodies of the weldment have a beam icon
98
Right-click the Cut List folder
and select Delete. All the beams are now in
the Conveyor Frame folder.

99

101
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105
106
107

108

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112
113
114
5

100
The sixteen beam elements were
automatically generated because the part file was
a weldment.
102
103

There is also an additional folder called

Joint group .

Slenderness ratio
Beam
elements are typically used to
represent long, slender
components. For the beam
formulation to produce acceptable
results, the length of the beam
should be 10 times larger than the
largest dimension of its cross
section.
109
The software automatically
110
detects the ratio and warns the user about the beams having a
slenderness ratio of less than 10.

Specify material.
115

Assign Plain Carbon Steel for all beam elements.

116

38
1

118

Review the calculated joints.

117
Right-click on the Joint group
folder and select Edit. The automatically
calculated joints will show on the screen.

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122
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2

119

123
If needed, the joints may be modified and re-calculated. In this exercise
this step is not required.

Mesh the model.

126

125

Mesh the model with the default element size.

127

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2

128
3

Define faulty weld joint.

129
The faulty weld in the indicated joint eliminates the possibility to transfer
moments between the beam element and the joint. The moment ties can be released
by specifying the pin connection type.

130

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4

131
Under the Conveyor Frame folder, right-click on the beam
element corresponding to the inclined member with the faulty weld and select Edit
definition.

Create a hinge.
149

The two end points are graphically shown as red and blue circles. Select

Hinge for the upper connection between the joint and the beam. Click OK to
confirm the settings.

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1

Restrain the vertical legs.

175

Apply an Immovable fixture to the bottom joints on all four vertical

176

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2

legs.

177

Restrain the inclined legs.

179
Apply a Fixed Geometry
180
restraint to the
bottom joints on the two
inclined legs.

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3

Apply loads on top beams.

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192

194

196

Right click the External

Loads folder and select
Force.

193
Under Selection
click Beams
then select
the two beams shown.
195
Apply 67,000 N
[15,062 lb] force in the
Normal to Plane direction
(with reference to the Top
plane). Select Reverse
direction.
197

Click OK.

198
199
4

Define loads on corner joint.

200
To apply a force or
201
moment directly
into the joint click the
Selection (Joints) button in
the Force menu (see the
figure).

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205
5

Run the analysis.

207
6

203
Apply a 45,000 N
[10,116 lb] force and a 2,260
N-m [20,000 lb-in] moment
to the corner joint. The force
and the moment are oriented
in the Normal to Plane and
Along Plane Dir1 directions
with reference
204
to the Front plane, respectively.
206
Notice how quickly the study completes. If solid or shell elements were
used instead, the computations would take considerably longer.

Plot resulting displacements.

208
Define a RES: Resultant displacement plot.

209

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223

210
Zoom closer to the section where both inclined members connect to the
top of the frame. Notice that the member with the faulty weld rotated at the joint
location, while the other member remains perpendicular irrespective of the
structural deformations. This indicates that the faulty weld connection does not
transmit moments, indeed.

Plot bending moment diagrams.

224
Right-click the Results folder and select
225
Define Beam Diagrams.

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227
Under Display select Moment in Dir 1
and the units of N-m.
229
Under Selected
Beams, click Select and
pick the inclined beam with
the faulty weld.

242

Click OK to plot the diagram.

268
We can see a linear variation of the bending moment in the elemental
direction 1. Note that the moment at the faulty joint is zero.
270
The large negative value of -3850 N-m then corresponds to the moment
along the elemental direction 1 transmitted to the floor.

List beam stresses.

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275

272

Right-click on the Results folder and select List Beam Forces.

274

Under List select Stresses, set the units to SI and click OK.

276

277

278
The List Forces dialog window shows a complete list of maximum
(minimum) normal and shear stresses for all beam elements.

279

280 Save and Close the file

281 stresses.
282 Rightclick
the
Results

283

284

Exercise

23: Cabinet

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308 Project
Description

309

Analyze a cabinet with an applied load.

311

This exercise reinforces the following skills:

310
312

Beam elements on page 363.

Beam Joints: Locations on page 367.
Connected and Disconnected Joints on
page 369.
Applying Loads on page 370.

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327

328 A cabinet manufactured from

Aluminum 5052 H32 is loaded by an isolated
4,450 N [1000 lb] force and two 4,450 N
[1,000 lb] loads distributed along the two
corner beams of the cabinet, as shown in the
figure. All other loads and masses (such as
shelf loads, etc.) are not included in this
analysis to keep the model simple. The bottom
of the cabinet, along with the pedestal, are
bolted to the floor.

329

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338
1

330 Compute the factor of safety of

the model.

Open an assembly file.

339

340
2

Create study.

342
3

Open Cabinet Assy located in the Lesson10\Exercises folder.

341

Define shell thicknesses.

343
344

Create a Static study named stress analysis.

Using the inside faces, define shell features for the skins of the cabinet.
Specify Thin shell formulation with the Thickness of 2.54mm [0.1in].

345
4

Define beam joints.

347

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362
363
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366

368

370
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346
Right-click on the Joint group
folder and select Edit.
348
At each of the eight corners,
there should be either one or two joints,
connecting all of the beams that converge
on that corner. See the figure.

Note
Joints identified as yellow spheres are attached to a single member.
367
Violet color identifies the joints which connect at least two beam
members.
369
The joints can be merged by entering a
user-defined value through Treat as joint for
clearence.
371

Select less than and enter a value of 0.1 m.

373
Click Calculate to update the
joint definitions.
375
Click OK to complete the definition of
the joints.

376

39
1

377

378
380

382
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414
5

Tip
Optionally, the joints can also be merged by adding or removing a
beam member. Right-click each joint to examine the components that form the
joint.
379
In the Select Joint Members window, click the components in
the graphics window to add or remove them from the joint.
381
To save the new joint definition, close the Select Joint Members
window. Make sure Keep modified joint on update is selected and click
Calculate.
383

Repeat the procedure for all the joints that need to be merged.

415

Specify Aluminum 5052-H32 for all Solids, Shells and Beams.

Assign materials.

39
2

416
6

Bond skins to the cabinet frame.

417
Specify Bonded contact condition between the frame beams and the
skin shell on the left hand side, as shown in the figure.

418

420
422
423

424
426
7

419
421

Click OK.

Note

To select Beams for the Set 1, click the Beams

under Type.

425
Repeat the definitions of the bonded contacts between the beams and
the skin shells for the right, back, and top sides of the cabinet.

Bond frame bottom beams to the frame bottom plates.

427
The two solid frame bottom plates must be bonded to the two frame
beams.

428
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431

432

433
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435
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437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
447
449

446

Frame Plates

These contacts have been defined in the Completed contacts study.

448
Copy all the contacts from the Completed contacts study into
our current study, stress analysis.

Contact between Base and the frame.

450
The frame side plates and the Base are bolted to the floor. For
simplicity we will model this contact as bonded. Bond the circular edges of the
bolt holes on the frame side to the top face of the base.

451

453
2

Fix the Base.

455
456
457
458
459
460
3

452
454
Apply a Fixed Geometry fixture
to the cylindrical faces of the four holes in the
Base.

Frame plates vs. base contact.

461
Specify No penetration,
Node to Surface contact between the
bottom faces of the frame plates and the
base, as shown in the figure.

462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470

Note
We use the Node to Surface formulation here because the parts are
initially touching and we expect little or no sliding between the two bodies.

471
472
4

Concentrated joint load.

473
Apply a 4450 N
[1000 lb] concentrated vertical
force to the top corner beam
joint, as shown in the figure.

474

476
477
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479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491

492

493

475
Make sure to
select Selected direction
to define the force on the
joints.

Note
In mixed mesh analysis the Force can be applied to the faces, edges or
vertices of the solid components or shells, beam joints and along the length of the
beam components.

Distributed beam load.

494
Apply 4450 N
[1000 lb] distributed vertical
load on the two beams
indicated in the figure.

495
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500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
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511
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517
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519
2

Create mesh.

522

524
526
527
528
3

Create a High quality Curvature based mesh

with the following

523
parameters: Maximum element size =
111.37mm, Minimum element size = 5mm, Min
number of elements in a circle = 16, and Element
size growth ratio = 1.6. .
525
Make sure that the shell tops and bottoms
are consistent.

Mesh details.

530

532
4

520
521

529

Show the mesh details.

531
Combined mesh with
beams, shells and solids resulted in
approximately 39,200 nodes.

Run the study stress analysis.

533
5

Plot von Mises stress.

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540
541
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545
546
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550
551
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559

558
It can be seen that the maximum von Mises stress in solid and shell
feature, 142.68 MPa, is at a sharp corner. This is an area of singular stress and
can be ignored. There is also some high stress in the vicinity of the holes that
are bonded to the bottom plate(you can verify that both the Top and the
Bottom indicate identical maximum value).

560

561

Plot beam stresses.

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566
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569
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579
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585

587
2

562
Edit the definition of the stress plot and select Beams. Select
Axial and Bending as the Beam Stress. Select the Render beam
profile option.

586
The highest axial and bending stress plot in beam elements indicate
a maximum stress of 43 MPa. We can therefore conclude that the factor of
safety in strength is approximately 195 MPa/43 MPa = 4.5 (195 MPa is the
yield strength of the Aluminum 5052 H32). This result indicates that the
cabinet frame is designed with sufficient factor of safety.

Plot resultant displacements.

588
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610

611
mm.

612
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The maximum displacement of the cabinet is approximately 1.31