Analysis of Bolted Joints at High Temperature

A preliminary study shows that the flanges in a typical bolted joint for piping have a more nearly uniform, and hence more favorable, stress distribution after creep has occurred than when the joint is first tightened up. However, the tightness of the joint depends on the initial elastic stretch of bolts and flanges; hence an estimation of its durability at high temperature is really a compound relaxation problem, and the advantage to be gained by the quasi-uniform stress distribution is apt to be illusory.