Shou-Jun Chen

e-mail: csj19850112@yahoo.com.cn

Qi An1
e-mail: anqi@ecust.edu.cn School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200237, P. R. China

Loading Analysis on the Thread Teeth in Cylindrical Pipe Thread Connection

This paper presents a new analytical method that can calculate the load distribution on the thread teeth in cylindrical pipe threaded connection. The new method was developed by analyzing each male and female thread tooth from the connection on the basis of elastic mechanics. By using this method, the load distribution on each thread tooth can be calculated with the tightening torque and thread numbers. By applying the new method on the sample of API 88.9 mm round threaded connection, the obtained results show that the load on thread tooth mainly concentrates on the last four or ve threads engaged. By using the nite element analysis method to the same sample validates the new method. The new method proposed in this paper is practical and convenient because it can be applied to calculate the load and deformation on each thread tooth just with tightening torque and thread numbers, which is easier to implement in practice. DOI: 10.1115/1.4000729 Keywords: cylindrical pipe threaded connection, analytical method, elastic mechanics, load distribution, FEA method

Yi Zhang
Wuxi Seamless Oil Pipe Co., Ltd., Wuxi 214028, P. R. China

Lian-Xin Gao Qiang Li

e-mail: llqq0108@msn.cn School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200237, P. R. China

Introduction

Failures occurring in threaded connections are the main consequences leading to oil tubing and casing accidents. Surveys 13 show that 80% of thread failure occur at the joint of threaded connections and highlight the joint as the weakest point in oil tubing and casing. Improving the quality of threaded connections will consequently have a positive effect on deep oil drilling projects. Previous references indicate that each thread tooth is under different load situation, which leads to the damage or destruction of threaded connection. The research of load distribution on thread tooth was analyzed in the last century in a lot of ne analytical, experimental, and nite element analysis FEA papers. The rst approach is developed on the basis of analytical method. The rst analytical models were developed by Maduschka 4 and Sopwith 5 and enabled the designers to know the load distribution in cylindrical screw threads. The results clearly show how more than half of the total load induced by the make-up torque is carried by the rst three or four threads engaged. Yazawa and Hongo 6 derived an expression for the distribution of load in the screwthread of a bolt-nut connection that was subjected not only to axial forces but also simultaneously to tangential forces and bending moments. By using an extensometer on the outside of a nut, Goodier 7 investigated the distribution of thread loads and deformations. He showed that the load distribution was governed by a number of mechanisms: stretching of the bolt, compression in the nut, bending of the threads, and circumferential stretching. Wang and Marshek 8 developed a spring model to predict the load distribution along the threaded portions of a bolt and nut connection and a pipe threaded connection. Heywood 9 devel1 Corresponding author Contributed by the Pressure Vessel and Piping Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF PRESSURE VESSEL TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received April 6, 2009; nal manuscript received November 18, 2009; published online May 4, 2010. Assoc. Editor: Donald Mackenzie.

oped methods for calculating thread llet stress, joint efciency, and load carrying capacity. He showed that determination and manipulation of load distribution played an important role in computing cyclic and static load capacity. The references mentioned above have developed some calculation models but these are comparatively complicated and not convenient for application. The second approach is developed on the basis of experimental test. Yuan et al. 10 made a nonlinear nite element analysis in API American Petroleum Institute round threaded connection under make-up torque and axial tensile load. In their experimental test, foil gauges were placed on the inner surface of the male thread and the outer surface of the female thread along the axial and circumferential direction. The results show that the operations of make-up and break-out in oilelds have a strong impact on the service life of oil tubing threaded connection. Kim et al. 11 made a twist compression test to investigate the galling in forming galvanized advanced high strength steels. Placido 12 conducted some experiments on full and reduced scale sample of aluminum drill pipes under cyclic bending and constant tensile loads to investigate their fatigue mechanism. Stoeckly and Macke 13 developed a testing apparatus that actually measured the axial displacement of the threads. They modied the Sopwith equations to accommodate tapered screw-thread connections in order to compare their experimental data with Sopwiths. They concluded that the coefcient of friction between the lubricated bolt and nut has little effect on the thread load distribution. However, these experimental tests focus on limited aspects of threaded connection problems and these experimental methods are difcult for application in practice. The third approach to calculate the load distribution on thread tooth is based on nite element method FEM. In the last few decades, the nite element method has represented a powerful tool used to evaluate both the load distribution and stress concentration on a thread tooth simultaneously by taking the nonlinear behavior of a material into consideration. OHara 14, for example, used two-dimensional axisymmetric models of hypothetical thread proJUNE 2010, Vol. 132 / 031202-1

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les to compare his analysis with Heywoods. The thread projections were based on characteristic lengths and not on the dimensions of the real components. There were indications of general agreement with Heywoods equations, except for the root load. Bretl and Cook 15 developed a unique nite element modeling technique for threaded connections. Their numerical results for conventional and tapered thread agreed well with theoretical and experimental results in literature. Tafreshi and Dover 16 analyzed the threaded connections using FEM to obtain the location of maximum stress concentration at the drilling string tool joint under axial loading, pure torsion, and bending. Finally, they found the most concentration of stress is under the action of axial loading. They used node to node contact elements to model the contact region between pin and box but contact stresses were not reported. Macdonald and Deans 17 obtained SCFs stress concentration factors and induced stresses at the threaded connection of drilling string using an axisymmetric 2D model via the nite element method. In this modeling, connection threaded area was modeled as a set of parallel teeth. They found out that the location of high local stresses is at the root of the rst engaged tooth in the pin and the last engaged tooth in the box. Bahai 18 used a 2D nite element modeling to calculate the SCFs for the case of API threaded connectors used in drill string applications. The threaded joint was subjected to preloading, axial loading, and bending loads. Due to the nonlinear governing equation of materials and the complex geometry structure being easily incorporated into the FE model, FEM is usually adopted for stress analysis of threaded connections. However, most of the existing methods were developed on the basis of Lame stress analysis and the conclusions could just calculate the joint strength of threaded connections. These methods could just analyze the deformation of male and female threads by assuming them as a column and the load distribution on each thread tooth is also treated as a concentrated load. These result in the inaccuracy of calculation on the teeth loading in threaded connection. This paper applied the theory of elastic mechanics and established a new analytical method, which was based on the actual thread contact surface and can calculate the load distribution on thread surface easily. This method makes a loading analysis on a single thread tooth in round threaded connection. By applying this proposed method on the sample of API 88.9 mm round threaded connection and using the FEA method to verify the calculated results, validates the analytical method proposed in this paper.

Fig. 1

The schematic of round threaded connection

that result in the deformation of thread tooth shown in Fig. 2. In this condition, the male thread is compressed and the female thread is stretched. 2.2 Loading Analysis on Male Thread Teeth. The rst step is to analyze the male thread as well as the load distribution on each male thread tooth. Figure 3 shows the loading analysis on each male thread tooth. Figure 3a describes the loading on thread 1 and Fig. 3b shows the loading on thread i 1. In Fig. 3c, the load on the last male thread tooth consists of 1 the uniform load f zn from the female thread to the contact surface, 2 the force Fn1 from the thread n 1, and 3 the force Fn exerted by the right side. Except for the thread 1, all the other threads have the similar force condition as the last one shown in Fig. 3b. The thread 1 just has the uniform load f z1 and the force F1 from the second male thread shown in Fig. 3a. According to this relation, we can obtain equations as follows: Fn1 = Fn f zn Dd 2 Dd 2 1

Fn2 = Fn1 f zn1 Fi = Fi+1 f zi+1 F 1 = F 2 f z 2 F 1 = f z 1

Dd 2

Dd 2

Dd 2

Model Development

2.1 Loading Analysis on Threaded Connection. The load situation on threaded connection is complicated and it is difcult to establish the mechanical model that can obtain the calculation of deformation and load distribution on each thread tooth. In this paper, the model was established by some assumptions. The analytical assumptions in this paper are as follows: 1 the thread deformation is in the range of elastic mechanics 2 do not consider the inuence of pitch angle 3 do not consider the bending deformation on each thread tooth 4 the load distribution on each thread tooth is a uniform load Figure 1 shows the schematic of round threaded connection. When the male and female thread contact smoothly with each other, there are no loads occurring on the thread tooth. If we still screw the male thread after the male thread reach the last female thread under the tightening torque T, the elastic deformation n will create on the last male and female thread tooth. When the tightening torque is vanished, the counter force Fn caused by the deformation will have an effect on the last male thread tooth and 031202-2 / Vol. 132, JUNE 2010

Now, take the single thread tooth into consideration and select the last thread as the research object. In Fig. 4, to the left side of male thread tooth, the force condition on thread tooth consists of 1 the uniform load f zn, 2 the

Fig. 2 Load and deformation on last male thread tooth

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Fig. 3 Loading analysis on each male thread tooth: a thread 1, b thread i-1, and c thread n

force Fn1 from the former thread, and 3 the force Fn from the right side. The compound force of the uniform load f zn in the direction x is f z n x sin = f znx tan cos

= n + n

Dd 2 tan

2Fn f znx tan 2 D d0 b x tan 2 2

1 4 F n + D + d 0 f z n d + d 0 1 In D + d0 tan Eb 2d0 4 F n D d 0 f z n d d 0 In D d0 2d0

dx

The deformation n in the location x should meet the equation as follows:

n
x

= b

Fn f znx tan 2 D d0 x tan 2 2

By applying the same method and make the same analysis to other threads, it could be found that the load distribution on other threads is similar to the last one. So the load situation on each male thread tooth can be obtained as follows:

Then, the axial deformation in left side could be expressed as

n =

Dd 2 tan

Fn f znx tan 2 D d0 x tan 2 2

dx

= n + n

Dd 2 tan

2Fn f znx tan 2 D d0 b x tan 2 2

dx

The loading analysis on the right side of male thread is shown in Fig. 5 and the force Fn caused by the deformation just exerts on the right thread tooth. Like the left side of male thread tooth, in the direction x, the deformation n on the right side of male thread tooth is

1 = n1 + n

Dd 2 tan

= n

Dd 2 tan

2Fn1 f zn1x tan 2 d0 D b x tan 2 2

Fn D x tan 2

2 2

dx

d0 2

dx

According to Eqs. 2 and 3, the total deformation of the last male thread tooth could be expressed as

i + i =

Dd 2 tan

2Fi f zix tan 2 D d0 x tan 2 2

dx

Fig. 4 Loading analysis on the left side of last male thread tooth

Fig. 5 Loading analysis on the right side of last male thread tooth

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Fig. 6 Loading analysis on last female thread tooth: a thread n, b the left side, and c the right side

= 1 + 1

Dd 2 tan

2F1 f z1x tan 2 D d0 b x tan 2 2

dx

According to the derivation above, the total axial deformation of male thread teeth could be expressed as

+ n1 + n 1 + + i + i + + 1 + 1 = n + n
=

Dd 2 tan

2Fn + Fn1 + + Fi + + F1 f zn + f zn1 + + f zi + + f z1x tan dx 2 D d0 2 E b x tan 2 2

2.3 Loading Analysis on Female Thread Teeth. In Fig. 6a, we consider the load on the last female thread tooth and the force Fn exerts on the single female thread tooth. By apply the same analytical method, the load situation on the left side is shown in Fig. 6b and the right side is shown in Fig. 6c. As the left side on female thread tooth, in the direction x, the deformation n on the left side of female thread tooth is

The load situation on each female thread tooth could be expressed as follows:

= n + n

Dd 2 tan

n =

Dd 2 tan

D0 2
2

Fn f znx tan D0 2 D x tan 2 2

2Fn f znx tan D0 2 D x tan 2 2

dx

dx

As the right side of female thread tooth in the direction x, the deformation n on the right side of female thread tooth is

1 = n1 + n

Dd 2 tan

= n

2Fn1 f zn1x tan D D0 2 n x tan 2 2

dx

Dd 2 tan

Fn D x tan 2

2 2

dx

7 i + i =

Then, according to Eqs. 6 and 7, the total deformation of nal female thread tooth could be expressed as

Dd 2 tan

2Fi f zix tan D0 2 D x tan 2 2

dx

= n + n

Dd 2 tan

1 4 F n + D 0 + D f z n D 0 + d 1 In = D0 + D tan En 2D0 4 F n + D 0 D f z n D 0 d In D0 D 2D0

2Fn f znx tan D0 2 D x tan 2 2

dx

= 1 + 1

Dd 2 tan

2F1 f z1x tan D D0 2 x tan 2 2

dx

where the force Fn is the function in Eq. 1. So according to the analysis above, the total axial deformation of female thread teeth could be expressed as Transactions of the ASME

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 + n1 + n 1 + + i + i + + 1 + 1 = n + n
=

Dd 2 tan

2Fn + Fn1 + + Fi + + F1 f zn + f zn1 + + f zi + + f z1x tan dx 2 D0 2 D E n x tan 2 2

2.4 Derivation of Deformation and Covariant Equation. Consider that the total deformation of male thread tooth is equal to the one of female thread, we can nd the deformation and covariant equation about male and female threads 1 = n + n n + n Eb 1 En 4FnIn 4FnIn d + d0 d d0 d d0D + d0 f zn D + d0In D d0In D + d0 D d0 1 D d0d + d0 2d0 2d0 Eb

D0 + d D0 d D0 dD0 + D + D0 DIn f zn D0 + DIn D0 + D D0 D D0 DD0 + d 1 + 2D0 En 2D0 f zn = kFn

By simplication, it becomes 10 where

k=

En D0 Eb d0

D0 dD0 + D En D0 d d0D + d0 4In In D0 DD0 + d Eb d0 D d0d + d0 d + d0 d d0 D0 + d D0 d D0 DIn D + d0In D d0In + D0 + DIn D + d0 D d0 D0 + D D0 D

Equation 10 shows the linear relation of uniform load f zn and Fn. 2.5 Relation Between Load on Thread Tooth and Tightening Torque. According to the calculating method on frictional torque, the torque on each thread tooth could be expressed as T n = f z n x d + x tan cos 2

f zn = kFn =

kT D d k1 2

14

The load on any thread tooth could be expressed as Fi = 1 k = 1k

Tn =

Dd 2 tan

f z n d + x tan dx cos 2

Dd Dd Fi+1 = 1 k 2 2

Dd 2

ni

Fn 15

ni

Dd T 2 k1

Then, the uniform load on each thread tooth is f zn1 = Dd kT D d 1k 2 k1 2 Dd kT D d 1k 2 k1 2 Dd kT D d 1k 2 k1 2

So the total frictional torque in thread connection is T=

f z
i i=1 n i i=1

Dd 2 tan

1 d + x tan dx cos 2
2

f zn2 = 11 f zn3 =

= Let

f z 8 sin D

d 2

1 k1 = D 2 d 2 8 sin Then Eq. 11 could be transferred as T = k 1 In Eq. 1, we can nd Fn = f z1 + f z2 + f z3 + + f zn Dd T Dd = 2 k1 2 13 By combining Eqs. 1 and 12, we can obtain Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology
n

Dd kT D d 1k f z i = 2 k1 2 f z 2 = Dd kT D d 1k 2 k1 2 Dd kT D d 1k 2 k1 2

f z
i i=1

12

f z 1 =

ni

16

n2

n1

In Eq. 16, it can be found that by the application of the tightening torque, the load on the last thread tooth is higher than any other teeth and the load on the other teeth will decrease along the axial direction. JUNE 2010, Vol. 132 / 031202-5

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Table 1 Geometric parameters of API 88.9 mm round threaded connection T N m 10,296 D0 mm 108 D mm 89.5318 d0 mm 69.89 d mm 84.9786 n 18

0.2

Calculating Example

3.1 Analytical Method. We choose the sample of API 88.9 mm round threaded connection and the geometric parameters are listed in Table 1. By using Eq. 10, it can obtain that k = 171.32, k1 = 1.1495 10
4

Fig. 8 Finite element model of API 88.9 mm round threaded connection

In accordance with the calculation of Eq. 16, the results obtained by the new method proposed in this paper are shown in Fig. 7. Figure 7 shows that by using the analytical method proposed in this paper, the load on thread tooth increases with the increase in thread number and mainly concentrates on the last four or ve threads engaged. Especially on the last two or three threads, the load on the thread tooth changes rapidly. This phenomenon is similar to the practical situation in threaded connection. It indicates that the new model proposed in this paper is reasonable. 3.2 Finite Element Method. In order to validate the calculation of new analytical method proposed in this paper, we analyze the same sample with the nite element software ANSYS 10.0. Figure 8 shows the nite element model of API 88.9 mm round threaded connection. The nite element model with elastic contact threaded surfaces was created in ANSYS. We cut the mesh area into several individual parts along each thread tooth. Figure 9 shows the schematic of nite element model after cutting. The element type we selected for this analysis is Quad 8node-82, which means an eightnode quadrilateral element. Figures 10 and 11 show the mesh on the whole model and the teeth edges. Because of nonlinear nature of this contact problem, static analysis has been chosen to solve the problem. The boundary conditions used in this analysis are clamping the end of female thread and application of an equivalent axial load on the opposite of male thread end. The tightening torque T is rst transferred into the equivalent axial load F using Eq. 17 then the boundary conditions are set and the load that is exerted on the male thread is dened. By using

ANSYS, we can obtain the stress distribution on the thread teeth shown in Fig. 12.

T = FD

tan + 2

17

Figure 12 shows the stress distribution on each contact thread tooth. In Fig. 12, we can nd that the load on thread tooth mainly concentrates on the last four or ve threads engaged. This phenomenon is identical to the results obtained by analytical method proposed in this paper. 3.3 Comparison and Discussion. Before making a comparison between the solutions of new analytical method and nite element method, we must rst transfer the load distribution on each thread tooth into mean contact stress. By using Eq. 18, we can obtain the mean contact stress on each thread tooth.

n =

f z n L A

18

Fig. 9 The schematic of nite element model after cutting

Fig. 7 Load distribution on thread tooth by the new method proposed in this paper

Fig. 10 Mesh on the nite element model

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Fig. 11 Rened mesh at teeth edges: a middle region and b end region

Figure 13 shows the comparison of mean contact stresses obtained by analytical method and the nite element method. We can nd that the maximum and minimum values obtained by the new analytical method are close to the ones of FEA method and the obtained two curves are identical in trend. Although there is a

discrepancy in the middle region, the shapes of the two curves are similar and this discrepancy may be attributed to the analytical model assumptions. The analytical method proposed in this paper could calculate the load distribution just with the tightening torque and thread numbers without considering all the inuence factors such as pitch angle, friction coefcient and so on. But in FEA method, all these important factors have been included. In practical situation, if we got the essential parameters and apply the analytical method proposed in this paper, it is convenient to calculate the load distribution on thread tooth in threaded connection.

Conclusions
1 In this paper, we proposed a new analytical method for analyzing the connection of male and female thread and established a new analytical model, which presents the relation between load distribution, tightening torque, and thread number. 2 The method proposed in this paper is convenient for application since it can be used to calculate the load and deformation on each thread tooth just with tightening torque and thread numbers. 3 By the comparison of the solutions of a specic sample between the proposed analytical method and FEA method, it could be found that the load mainly concentrates on the last four or ve threads engaged. The results obtained by the two methods are identical, which means the new method proposed in this paper is reasonable.

Fig. 12 Stress distribution on the thread teeth in

ANSYS

Acknowledgment
The author wishes to thank Professor Lian-Xin Gao and Yi Zhang for their help in this paper and the nancial support of Wuxi Seamless Oil Pipe Co., Ltd.

Nomenclature
T tightening torque Tn frictional torque on nth tooth total axial deformation on male thread tooth n axial deformation on the left side of male thread tooth n axial deformation on the right side of male thread tooth total axial deformation on female thread tooth n axial deformation on the left side of female thread tooth JUNE 2010, Vol. 132 / 031202-7

Fig. 13 Mean contact stress obtained by analytical method and nite element method

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 n axial deformation on the right side of female thread tooth Fn force caused by axial deformation on nth tooth Fi force on ith tooth F1 force on rst tooth f zn uniform load on nth tooth f zi uniform load on ith tooth f z1 uniform load on rst tooth D outer diameter of male thread D0 outer diameter of female thread at hand-tight plane d inner diameter of male thread at hand-tight plane d0 inner diameter of cylindrical pipe n thread number friction coefcient pitch angle tooth shape angle equivalent frictional angle n mean contact stress on nth tooth L length of thread tooth A area of contact thread surface

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