Experimental and Numerical Study for Fatigue Life Prediction of Bolted Connection

This paper presents results of an experimental study carried out for developing a model to predict the low-cycle fatigue life of bolted connection. The test specimens are cantilever beams with one end fixed by a bolted connection and the other end free. Each cantilever beam is subjected to a mass at the free end. Different levels of cyclic loading are applied to the beam system by means of a vibration shaker. Moreover, a numerical analysis is performed to study the uncertainty of the experimental model and to predict the lifetime scatter of the bolted connection. Monte Carlo simulations are adopted to include uncertainties by generating samples of the different random variables. The effects of these variables on the fatigue life of the bolted connection are identified.