The Case for Equality, Bringing Bolted Joint Management in Line With Welded Joint Management: Trends in European Standards

The bolted joint by its simple nature, can be tightened by anyone who can lift a spanner. This has led over the years to a lack of respect and the acceptance of un-managed assembly and tightening. The results have been lack of control over the key goal — a joint that performs reliably and safely in service. ASME has recently updated a number of key standards such as PCC-1-2010 [1] and a parallel initiative is ongoing in Europe [2]. Both have the same end goal to recognize the importance and need for careful control and diligent application of standards for bolted joints on critical pressurized systems. The paper will compare the developments in Europe with those in ASME and state the case for continued development and application of standards to reduce the level of leakage and failures associated with bolted flanged joints. Under Europe Safety Directives there is a growing recognition that the Pressure Equipment Directive [3] does not treat the bolted joint equally with the Welded joint this anomaly will be explained in the paper.