Reply To: Preload gain during the solution for gasketed bolted joint

[John Doyle]

Try to eliminate or minimize all the collective penetrations in the contact pairs within the bolt pretension load path. For example, if you have bonded contacts between bolt head/nut and plates, switch to MPC formulation. If you have frictional contacts between plates, increase the stiffness factor to '10' and turn off stiffness updating. Confirm that the resulting penetrations are considerably smaller than the adjustment in bolt pretension needed to achieve convergence.