Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615

www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Three-dimensional nite element analysis of tightening

and loosening mechanism of threaded fastener
Satoshi Izumi *, Takashi Yokoyama, Atsushi Iwasaki, Shinsuke Sakai
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Hongo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

Received 28 June 2004; accepted 2 September 2004

Abstract

Threaded fasteners are widely used in mechanical structures largely because the disassembly for maintenance is easy
and low cost. However, vibration-induced loosening due to dynamic loading has remained problematic over the past six
decades. In this report, we investigated the mechanisms of the tightening process and the loosening process due to shear
loading using the framework of the three-dimensional nite element method (FEM). Results are compared with those
of conventional theories based on material mechanics and with experimental results. We found some new aspects of
threaded fastener theory. Previous theory overestimates the tightening torque in the relation between preload and tight-
ening torque. Because we modeled the protrusion of bolt from nut and the stiness of the clamped component unlike
previous theory, the load distribution of 1st pitch decreases and that of 4th pitch turns to be the minimum. Good qual-
itative agreement was observed between FEM and experiments with respect to the behavior of loosening under condi-
tions of shear loading such as hysteresis loop of transverse displacement and shear load and critical slip width for
complete bolt-head slip. It was found that loosening is initiated when complete thread slip has occurred prior to head
slip, which has previously been considered the initial point of loosening. Therefore, modication of the design of the
threaded fastener is needed.
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Finite element analysis; Threaded fasteners; Failure analysis; Joint failure; Vibration induced loosening

1. Introduction

Threaded fasteners used to assemble mechanical products and structures are widely used due to their
ease of disassembly for maintenance and their relatively low cost [1]. However, when the threaded fasteners

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 3 58416413; fax: +81 3 38180835.
E-mail address: izumi@fml.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp (S. Izumi).

1350-6307/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2004.09.009
 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615 605

are subjected to dynamic external loads such as impact, vibration, and thermal loadings, loosening results
in the failure of engineering products such as railway cars, vehicles, and construction machines. In recent
years, several accidents still take place in Japan. Therefore, the control of loosening is a crucial unresolved
problem in the eld of mechanical engineering.
Research on loosening due to dynamics loading acting on the threaded fastener has been mainly per-
formed by experiment. Junker [2], a pioneer in this eld, found that loosening due to external loading per-
pendicular to the thread axis (shear loading) is more predominant than that due to other vibration modes.
In this context, a theory that the loosening starts with the transverse slip on the bolt-head bearing surface
has been proposed. In contrast to the classical works, those of Kasei et al. [3] and Pai and Hess [4,5] exper-
imentally showed that slight loosening appears prior to the bolt-head slip. Based on how dicult it is to
understand in detail the contact states of bolt head and thread surfaces quantitatively, Pai and Hess [4] per-
formed the three-dimensional nite element calculation for loosening. In order to reproduce the loosening
process, helical modeling of external and internal threads must be taken into account, which has been real-
ized by recent advances in computational power. He proposed that the slight loosening prior to the bolt-
head slip is caused by localized slip of thread surface.
Pai et al. paid attention only to the loosening process. The FEM analysis will provide a deep understand-
ing of processes other than loosening, such as those of tightening and fracture. Notably, Pai compared his
FEM results only with experiments. Comparison with material-mechanics based theories is very important,
given that the Japanese standard for threaded fasteners is based on those theories.
In this study, the primary aspects of the tightening and loosening mechanism of the threaded fas-
tener have been investigated. Results are compared with the theories based on material mechanics
[69] and experimental results. It is noted that the comparison with experimental results involves
inherently qualitative aspects, and it is well known that the friction coecient varies locally during
the tightening and loosening process. The detection of the real friction coecient is very dicult.
Our study aims at providing the verication and modication of the classical theories regarding the
threaded fastener.

2. Analysis method

2.1. Tightening analysis of threaded fastener

The relation between preload and tightening torque under the elastic tightening process and the load dis-
tribution of thread are evaluated by three-dimensional FEM. We used ANSYS 7.0, which is general pur-
pose nite element method software. As a standard model, we employed a threaded fastener involving an
M16 screw (diameter and pitch of thread, 16 and 2 mm, respectively, diameter and height of bolt head, 24
and 10 mm, respectively), with 10-pitch internal thread and 5-pitch external thread and a cylindrical
clamped component whose inner radius, outer radius, and thickness are 18, 50, and 35 mm, respectively.
Three pitches of internal thread protrude from the nut. The FEM model is shown in Fig. 1. The grade
and position of crossover is 6H/6g (expression in Japanese standard units).
Here, this study does not aim to obtain detailed stress distribution, but, rather, clarication of the
mechanical mechanism based on contact analysis. The detailed shape of the bolt head and curvature of
the bottom of thread are not taken into account. With regard to the nut, the hexagonal corner used to apply
the tightening torque is not modeled. Contact elements are used on the bolt-head bearing surface, bolt body
surface, nut bearing surface, and thread surface, as shown in Fig. 1.
The contact element pair TARGE170 and CONTA174, which realizes surfacesurface contact between
three-dimensional objects and can handle the Coulomb friction, is used. The total number of nodes and
elements are 23,946 and 12,821, respectively.
606 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615

Fig. 1. Finite element model for tightening process (1/4 of nut and clamped component is visually removed).

The tightening analysis is performed by applying the constrained circumferential displacement on the
side surface of the nut, followed by removing it. The side surface of the bolt head is xed and the contact
of the bolt-head bearing surface is completely stuck in order to avoid rigid rotation. The Young modulus
and Poisson ratio of all materials (bolt, nut, and clamped component) are 205 GPa and 0.3. The friction
coecient of the contact surface is set at 0.15. The friction coecient might vary during the tightening proc-
ess given that it depends on the state of the contact surface. While such an eect can be incorporated into
FEM analysis, the value is treated as a constant here because this study aims to investigate the primary
aspects of the tightening and loosening process. All analysis is restricted to low preloads (elastic range)
to avoid the inuence of yielding.

2.2. Loosening analysis due to shear loading

Yamamoto and Kasei [6] performed experiments regarding shear-loading induced loosening by using his
loosening test machine, which consists of a top movable plate clamped to a rigid xed base through a
threaded insert. Roller bearings are placed between the top plate and the xed base to minimize sliding fric-
tion. He claried the loosening process subjected to vibration normal to the axial direction through the
measurements of preload, nut turn angle, and bolt axial torque originated from elastic torsion. Because
the vibration frequency of this experiment is low, the system can be treated as a quasi-static process.
In this study, we modeled the threaded fastener on that in Yamamotos experimental system. The FEM
model is shown in Fig. 2. An M10 screw (diameter and pitch of thread, 10 and 1.5 mm, respectively; diam-

Fig. 2. Finite element model for loosening of threaded fastener subjected to quasi-static transverse load. Unit is mm.
 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615 607

eter and height of bolt head, 16 and 6.4 mm, respectively) with 15-pitch internal thread and 4-pitch external
thread is employed. 6.5 pitches of internal thread protrude from the nut. The diameter of the insert hole is
12 mm.
Because the friction between the movable plate and the xed plate can be ignored, only the movable
plate is modeled in FEM, and all the axial-direction displacements of the bottom of the movable plate
are xed. The external force normal to the axial direction is modeled by applying the constrained displace-
ment with 0.3 mm amplitude to the edge surface of the movable plate. Though the maximum displacement
of the movable plate in the experiment is 0.9 mm, we applied 0.3 mm in order to reduce the computational
cost as described later. The total number of nodes and elements are 29,769 and 14,241, respectively. Unlike
the model of Pai and Hess [4], the protrusion of thread from the nut is taken into account. This additional
modeling will aect the loosening behavior because the load distribution of thread depends on the mode-
ling, as also pointed by Pai. In addition, the increase in the mesh number will realize an increase in calcu-
lation accuracy.
From the viewpoint of calculation cost, initial tightening force is generated by making the length of the
bolt body slightly short and allowing its interference with the movable plate under the constraint of the side
surface of the nut. The preload and friction coecient are set to 9.8 kN and 0.17, respectively, based on the
experimental condition of Yamamoto and Kasei [6]. Young modulus and Poisson ratio are 205 GPa and
0.3, respectively, for all materials.

3. Analysis results

3.1. Relation between preload and tightening torque

The relation between preload and tightening torque is shown in Fig. 3. The tightening torque is calcu-
lated by the reaction force on the side surface of the nut. Analytic Eq. (A.1) is also shown for comparison.
The details of all analytic equations based on the material-mechanics are shown in the Appendix A. Though
the tightening torque of FEM is slightly smaller than that of the analytic equation, it can be said that two
results show good agreement with each other below the preload of 60 kN.

3.2. Load distribution of thread

Preload acting on a bolt must be sustained by the thread. It is generally known that the thread closer to
the nuts contact surface sustains a larger load. Here, the load distribution (ratio) of each thread pitch num-
bered from the nut-bearing surface is shown in Fig. 4, where the nut turn angle is 24.6. The load of the rst
pitch is largest in both cases. In contrast with the load distribution of Eq. (A.3), which gradually decreases

200
tightening torque [Nm]..

FEM
150 Eq.(A-1)

100

50

0
0 20 40 60
Pre load [kN]

Fig. 3. Relation between preload and tightening torque.

608 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615

30
FEM

load distribution [%].

25 Eq.(A-3)

20

15

10
1 2 3 4 5
Pitch number

Fig. 4. Load distribution of thread.

as the distance from the nut-bearing surface is increased, the load distribution of FEM result reaches min-
imum at the fourth pitch.

3.3. Loosening due to shear force

The relation between transverse force (shear force) and transverse displacement during ve cycles is
shown in Fig. 5(a). Yamamotos experimental result is also shown in Fig. 5(b) for comparison. It is noted
that transverse displacement of the FEM is terminated at 0.3 mm in order to reduce computational cost.
During the transverse displacement of 0.30.45 mm, no additional loosening takes place and no inuence
is exerted on other behaviors except that line EB and CD are extended in the horizontal directions. In Fig.
5(a), point B and D are right and left dead points, respectively. The hysteresis loop involves slope (OA, BC,
DE) and at regions. Moreover, the slope region can be classied into steep slope (OO 0 , BB 0 , DD 0 ) and
gradual slope (O 0 A, B 0 C, D 0 E) regions. The slope provides an indication of the joint stiness in the trans-

2000 E A B
transverse load [N]

1000
O
D O
0 B
-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5
-1000
D C
-2000
(a) transverse displacement [mm]

2000
transverse load [N]

1000

0
-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5
-1000

-2000
(b) transverse displacement [mm]

Fig. 5. Hysteresis loops of transverse displacement and load: (a) FEM result; (b) experimental result by Yamamoto and Kasei [6].
 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615 609

Fig. 6. Evolution of contact state during loosening process.

verse direction. The reduction in slope is a sign of slip at contact. The contact states at the thread and the
bolt head surface are shown in Fig. 6 in the case of steep slope (OO 0 ), gradual slope (O 0 A), and at regions
(AB), respectively. The black and gray regions indicate stick-contact and slip-contact regions, respectively.
In the steep slope region, the bolt-head surface and thread surface partly stick (localized thread slip
and localized head slip). Therefore, at the contact surface, rotation or transverse bolt-head slip never
occurs. The bolt body is forced to bend in response to the transverse displacement of the movable
top plate. Next, in the gradual slope region, the entire thread surface undergoes complete slip (complete
thread slip). Rotational displacement at the thread region results in torsional deformation of the bolt
body. Finally, complete slip at the bolt head occurs (complete head slip). Transverse slip at the bolt
head induces transverse displacement of the movable plate with constant transverse force. Constant
transverse force at the rst cycle of the at region is equal to the product of preload (9.8 kN) and fric-
tion coecient (0.17). However, as the vibration proceeds, the preload is gradually decreased due to
loosening.

3.4. Initiation of loosening and transverse bolt-head slip

In order to investigate the initial point of loosening (bolt head turn), the variation in the turn angle of the
bolt body with respect to cyclic period is shown in Fig. 7. The angle at the top of the bolt body (*) corre-
sponds to the loosening turn angle. The dierence in turn angle between the top and lower points indicates

Fig. 7. Evolution of turn angles at three points located along a bolt body. (* bolt head surface, n top of threaded part, h bottom of
bolt body).
610 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615

the torsion of the bolt body. Here, the result of only 3/4 cycles is shown. Symbols such as O 0 and A are used
in the same manner as those in Fig. 5. At the points of O 0 and B 0 , which are the transition points from steep
slope region to gradual slope region, complete thread slip and torsional deformation of the bolt body take
place. Subsequently, a slight turn of the bolt-head surface begins. After reaching points A and C, where the
transverse slip at the bolt head (head slip) starts, the turn angle rapidly increases as the bolt-body torsion is
released, as predicted by the conventional theory. It is noted that slight loosening appears prior to trans-
verse bolt-head slip. Accumulation of such a small turn would induce the decrease in preload, which nally
results in the transverse bolt-head slip. Therefore, this phenomenon must be incorporated into the design of
the joint. This phenomenon, rst indicated by Pai and Hess [4], originates from the variation in the local-
ized head slip region from the right dead point to left dead point (and vice versa). Thus, because the sticking
region at the left dead point transforms into a slip region at the right dead point, the resultant variation in
deformation states (strain release and accumulation) would induce the small turn angle.

4. Discussion

4.1. Nonlinearity of the relation between preload and tightening torque

From Fig. 3, the relation between preload and tightening torque shows weak nonlinearity. That devi-
ation from Eq. (A.1) is mainly attributed to the non-uniform distribution of pressure at the contact sur-
face. In Eq. (A.2), the equivalent diameter Dv of the friction torque is estimated under the assumption
of uniform contact-pressure distribution at the nut-bearing surface. However, in fact, because the exter-
nal thread of the nut is subject to the preload, the contact pressure at the inner side is thought to be
higher than that at the outer side. The pressure distribution at the nut-bearing surface (nut turn angle is
24.6 and preload is 62.3 kN) is shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the maximum pressure appears at a
diameter of 19 mm. The resulting tightening torque is 188 Nm. In contrast to that result, the equivalent
diameter of friction torque is estimated as Dv = 21.1 mm by using Eq. (A.2), and the resulting tightening
torque is estimated to be 198 Nm by using Eq. (A.1). From those results, the location of maximum
pressure greatly aects the tightening torque. Here, if Dv = 19 mm is assumed in Eq. (A.1), the resulting
tightening torque becomes Tf = 188 Nm, which agrees with the FEM result. Therefore, it is found that
the tightening torque can be predicted precisely through consideration of the contact-pressure
distribution.

Fig. 8. Contact pressure distribution on nut-bearing surface.

 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615 611

4.2. Load distribution of thread

The dierence in the load distribution between FEM analysis and Eq. (A.3) is thought to be originated
from the assumption in Eq. (A.3). Thus, in Eq. (A.3), the clamped component is assumed to be a rigid
body. This assumption would increase the load distribution ratio of the rst pitch, given that the stiness
round the rst pitch increases. In addition, another assumption concerns eliminating the protrusion region
of thread, which decreases the stiness around the fth pitch. As a result, the ratio of the fth pitch de-
creases. Subsequently, that of the rst pitch increases. Those phenomena have already been investigated
by the axial-symmetry model of Tanaka [10,11]. In this study, it is claried that the helical three-dimen-
sional model demonstrates a similar tendency.

4.3. Loosening prior to transverse bolt-head slip

In Section 3.4, complete thread slip induces loosening prior the transverse bolt-head slip. Here, the loos-
ening behaviors prior to the bolt-head slip are deeply investigated. The relation of transverse displacement
and transverse force and time history of the turn angles are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. Here the maximum
displacement of the movable top plate is changed from 0.3 to 0.06 mm. As can be seen in Fig. 9, there is no
at slope and two kinds of slope appear. In Fig. 10, the loosening starts as the bolt body is torsionally de-
formed (torsional deformation due to the tightening process is partially released) in the gradual slope region
(complete thread slip region). In contrast to the transverse bolt-head slip, the torsional deformation of bolt
body does not get released even if the loosening process proceeds. The behavior of only the bolt-head turn
angle (loosening angle) during three cycles is shown in Fig. 11. Though the loosening at the rst cycle (Fig.
10) is largest, subsequent loosening can be clearly identied. In contrast to Pais calculation, which includes
large scattering due to coarser mesh, our model involving the ner FEM model can provide clear loosening

1200
transverse load [N]

600

0
-0.08 -0.04 0 0.04 0.08
-600

-1200
transverse displacement [mm]

Fig. 9. A Hysteresis loop when maximum transverse displacement is changed from 0.3 to 0.06 mm.

0.08
angle [deg.]

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
1 1/4 2/4 3/4
cycles

Fig. 10. Evolution of turn angles at three points located along a bolt body (* bolt head surface, n top of thread part, h bottom of bolt
body) when the transverse displacement is set to 0.06 mm.
612 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615

0.006

angle [deg.]
0.004

0.002

0
0 1 2 3
cycles

Fig. 11. Evolution of turn angle when maximum transverse displacement is set at 0.06 mm.

0.0004
angle [deg.]

0.0003

0.0002

0.0001

0
0 1 2 3
cycles

Fig. 12. Evolution of turn angle when maximum transverse displacement is set at 0.02 mm.

behavior with less scattering. Thus, it is proved that the loosening occurs prior to bolt-head slip, which was
rst proposed by Pai.
Next, the loosening turn angle in response to the movable plate displacement of 0.02 mm is shown in Fig.
12. According to Pai, loosening proceeds in this localized thread slip and localized head slip region. How-
ever, from our precise calculation, the loosening process cannot be observed. Therefore, the localized
thread slip would not initiate the loosening.

4.4. Comparison with Yamamotos experiment

From the hysteresis loop of Fig. 5, it can be said that FEM results qualitatively agree with the experi-
mental results. In particular, the transverse loads when the slope changes show quantitative agreement.
However, FEM analysis involves a slightly steeper slope. The critical slip width Scr, at which the transverse
head slip occurs, is widely used to evaluate the loosening initiation in the design of the joint. We estimated it
to be 0.42 mm from Eq. (A.7). In contrast, the FEM result and Yamamotos experiment evaluate Scr to be
0.25 and 0.4 mm, respectively, from Fig. 5. It is noted that Eq. (A.8) regarding the inclination of the bolt
head was tted to the experimental results.
The dierence in Scr between FEM and theory might be due to the stiness of the test machine and the
roughness of the contact surface. Thus, while the nut side surface is completely constrained in FEM anal-
ysis, this constrained region is elastically deformed in a real experimental system. In addition, there is a
slight roughness on the contact surface, and external force will promote further wear, which is not taken
into account in FEM modeling. Those eects, which would provide slightly higher stiness of FEM results,
are incorporated into Eq. (A.8) through the bolt inclination term of (A.7). If Eq. (A.7) is neglected, the
resulting Scr turns out to be 0.14 mm, which is slightly smaller than the FEM result. It is concluded
that although further consideration of experimental constraints and boundary conditions is needed for
 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615 613

quantitative comparison, the two methods show qualitative agreement, given that the FEM results (0.25
mm) lie between 0.4 (tted inclination term) and 0.14 mm (no inclination term).
Other results such as loosening angle and decrease in preload are compared with the results of experi-
ments. The nal loosening angle gives closely similar values (FEM 1.25, experiment 1.15). Decrease in pre-
load shows some deviation (1.8 and 0.8 kN). However, it is noted that because the experimental measurement
in preload involves large scattering as shown in Fig. 5, the quantitative detection is very dicult.

5. Conclusion

The tightening and loosening processes of the threaded fastener were investigated by a three-dimensional
nite element method. Based on a comparison with classical material-mechanics based theories and exper-
imental results, the following conclusions can be drawn:

(1) Relation of preload and tightening torque shows good agreement between the two theories. A small
deviation originates from the underestimation of the equivalent diameter of friction torque on the
nut-bearing surface due to the non-uniform distribution of contact pressure at the bolt-bearing surface.
(2) Protrusion of internal thread from the nut and the stiness of the clamped component result in vari-
ation in the load distribution. The load distribution of the fourth pitch reaches the minimum and that
of the rst pitch decreases as compared with those in conventional theory.
(3) Behavior of loosening subjected to shear loading shows qualitative agreement between the FEM and
experimental results.
(4) Loosening due to shear loading is initiated when complete thread slip is achieved prior to bolt-head
slip, which conventional theory has considered the initiation point. These ndings suggest that mod-
ication of the design of the threaded fastener is needed.

Such FEM modeling can also contribute to the selection of anti-loosening fastener components such as a
nut with a ange, a nut with a nylon ring, and a spring washer.

Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate many useful discussions with Prof. T. Hattori, Department of Mechanical and
Systems Engineering, Gifu University (previously aliated with the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory,
Hitachi Ltd.).

Appendix A

A.1. Relation between preload and tightening torque [7]

Relation between preload Fs and tightening torque Tf in the elastic tightening region can be expressed by
the balance between the friction force on the contact surface and tightening torque.


1 P
Tf Fs 1:155ls d p lw Dv ; A:1
2 p
where d and P are the diameter and pitch of thread, respectively, ls and lw are the friction coecients on
the thread surface and nut bearing surface, respectively, and dp is the eective diameter of the thread. Dv is
the equivalent diameter of friction torque on the nut-bearing surface, which is written as
614 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615

2 d 3w
d 3h
Dv ; A:2
3 d 2w
d 2h
where dw is the diameter of the nut bearing surface and dh is the diameter of the bolt insert hole. Here, Eqs.
(A.1) and (A.2) involve the assumption of uniform contact pressure and the rigid-body approximation of
the clamped component.

A.2. Load distribution of thread [8]

Load distribution of thread can be expressed by stiness k of the bolt (index b) and nut (index n). For the
nut with a height of L, load distribution F/Fb of nth pitch numbered from nut-bearing surface is expressed
by Eq. (A.3).
F sinhknP
: A:3
Fb sinhkL
Here,
v
u 1 1
u A E A E
k t b b  n n : A:4
kb
Eb
Eknn tan b

Here, A and E indicate the cross-sectional area normal to the axis and the Young modulus, respectively. b is
the lead angle. Eq. (A.3) involves the assumptions that the plain-stress condition holds, that the clamped
component is treated as a rigid body, and that the protrusion of the internal thread from nut can be
ignored.

A.3. Critical slip width Scr for loosening

The loosening mechanism proposed by Yamamoto was that loosening due to shear loading is initiated
when complete slip between the movable plate and the bolt head surface has occurred. Further, Yamamoto
proposed the expression for the evaluation of critical slip width (critical transverse displacement of the
movable top plate) Scr for bolt-head slip [9].
The schematic of the deformation of the threaded fastener subjected to external force normal to the axis
is shown in Fig. 13. When the shear loading Fr acts on the movable plate close to the nut, the nut-bearing
surface is subjected to shear loading Fr and the thread is subjected to reaction force moment Mn. As a

Fr

lp dp Mn

d
ln
lg

k w(F r l n -M n )

Fig. 13. Deformation of bolt caused by shear loading [9].

 S. Izumi et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 604615 615

result, the bolt body is bent. Moreover, under the assumption that elastic deformation of the bolt head is
proportional to the applied moment, the inclination of the bolt head surface can be obtained. Finally, dis-
placement in the thread can be written as
! !
l3g l3p lg lp ln 2
l2g l2p lg lp
d Fr k w ln
M n k w ln ; A:5
3EI g 3EI p EI g 2EI g 2EI p EI g

where lg, lp and ln are described in Fig. 13, Ig is the moment of inertia of the bolt body and Ip is that of the
thread.
In addition, the reaction moment Mn acting on the thread can be approximately written by
m ls F s
Mn ; A:6
4 cos2 a
where ls is the friction coecient of the thread surface and a is the half angle of the thread.
The relative slip on the nut bearing surface is considered to occur when the shear loading Fr reaches the
maximum static friction force lwFs on the nut bearing surface, where lw is the friction coecient of the nut-
bearing surface. Therefore, critical transverse displacement of movable plate Scr for relative slip can be writ-
ten by Eq. (A.7)
( ! !)
l3g l3p lg lp ln 2 m ls l2g l2p lg lp
S cr 2F s lw k w ln
k w ln : A:7
3EI g 3EI p EI g 4 cos2 a 2EI g 2EI p EI g

Nakamura et al. [12] performed the nite element analysis in order to obtain the inclination coecient of
the bolt head. Analysis was conducted for three sizes of bolt and three kinds of clamped component. The
resulting formulation of kw is as follows.

3
1
k w 0:168 1=kN mm: A:8
d
In this study, Eq. (A.8) proposed by Nakamura is used as the inclination coecient of bolt head kw.

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