Virtual material parameter acquisition based on the basic characteristics of the bolt joint interfaces

This work presents a joint modeling method. By adding a material of different set element, the complex elements consisting of joint are regarded equivalent to he element set without joint. Considering the influence of the different characteristics of joint surface, the parameters of virtual material can be derived by using the principle that the basic characteristic parameters of the joints equal the material strain energy. Then, when the virtual material parameters are imported into the finite element analysis software, an analytical model including joints can be obtained. The results show that the virtual material model can provide a theoretical basis for the accurate joint modeling. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.