Investigation of the Failure Behavior of Bolted Connections under Crash Loads and a Novel Adaption to an Enhanced Abstracted Bolt Model

This study presents a new approach for the modelling of bolted joints in vehicle crash simulations with LS-DYNA®. In order to evaluate energy absorption concepts, it is essential to transfer loads between joining parts and to predict the failure behavior of threaded fasteners. For conventional models, the maximum tensile strength or the maximum elongation is considered as a failure criteria. Enhanced bolt models require the comprehension of the physics, the failure behavior as well as the corresponding numerical limitations. Experiments were conducted under three different load types, while the thread-shaft ratio, the clamping length and the bolt diameter were varied. The experimental results are utilized on one hand as a reference to validate conventional models and on the other hand as basis for more detailed models.