Bolting Up Simulation of Pipe Flange Connections Taking Clamping Force Scatter Into Consideration

It is well known that the scatter of bolt loads occurs when bolting up a pipe flange connection with a number of bolts. In general practice, two factors presumably have dominant effects on the non-uniform loads. One is due to the scatter of bolt clamping force when adopting a torque control method. The second is elastic interaction due to the flange deformation occurring in the process of successive bolt tightening. In this study, bolt-up finite element simulations of the pipe flange connection are conducted by considering the scatter of bolt clamping force when using the torque control method. The interrelationship of the effects of the scatter of clamping forces and the elastic interaction on the preload scatter occurring in the bolt-up process is investigated.