Bolt Toolkit V192.

12

magnus.gustafsson@edrmedeso.com
Bolt Toolkit - Overview

• Bolt Toolkit
• Target application: Mechanical
• Description: Pre and Post processing tool to create groups of rivets, bolt
pretension, simplified bolts and advanced bolts with thread contact
section. Rivet and bolt results can be evaluated according to Eurocode 3
and VDI 2230.

• This version of the App is supported in the following versions of ANSYS in

addition to the ones indicated on the App Store.
− R18.0, R18.1, R18.2 (Backwards compatible)
− R19.1, R19.2
− 2019R1, 2019R2.4 2019R3
ACT App Store

• https://appstore.ansys.com/shop/ACTApps_act%20apps
• Great place to get started
− A library of helpful extensions available to any ANSYS customer
− New apps added regularly
− Applications made available in either binary format (.wbex file) or binary
plus scripted format (Python and XML files)
− Scripted extensions are great examples
− Documentation and training materials available on the ANSYS Customer
Portal:
https://support.ansys.com/AnsysCustomerPortal/en_us/Downloads/ACT
+Resources
Information

• Please pay attention to paragraph 9 of the CLICKWRAP SOFTWARE

LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR ACS EXTENSIONS regarding TECHNICAL
ENHANCEMENTS AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT (TECS): “TECS is not
included with the Program(s)”

• To report any issue or provide feedback related to this app please

contact our support inbox:
ansys@edrmedeso.com
 Binary App Installation (1)
Installing from the ACT Start Page:
1. From the project page, select the
“ACT Start Page” option
2. Click on “Extension Manager”
3. Press “+” symbol in the top right corner
4. It will open a file dialog to select the
appropriate “*.wbex” binary file
5. The extension is installed

Loading the extension:

1. From the Extension Manager,
click on your extension and choose
‘Load Extension’
2. The extension is loaded
Notes:
• The extension to be installed will be stored in the following location:
%AppData%\Ansys\[version]\ACT\extensions (Example for [version]: v190)
• The installation will create a folder in this location, in addition to the .wbex file
 Binary App Installation (2)

Installing from the Extensions menu:

1. From the Extensions menu, select the “Install
Extension…” option
2. It will open a file dialog to select the appropriate
“*.wbex” binary file
3. Click “Open” to install the extension

Loading the extension:

1. From the Extension Manager,
click on your extension and choose ‘Load Extension’
2. The extension is loaded

Notes:
• The extension to be installed will be stored in the following location:
%AppData%\Ansys\[version]\ACT\extensions (Example for [version]: v190)
• The installation will create a folder in this location, in addition to the .wbex file
 Binary App Installation (3)
• Once the binary extension is installed at default location, one can move the *.wbex and the folder to any
other location
– Default path: %AppData%\Ansys\v190\ACT\extensions
– New path: Any location on your machine, shared drive etc.
• All users interested in using the extension need to include that path in their Workbench Options
1. In the “Tools” menu, select the “Options…”
2. Select “Extensions” in the pop up panel
3. Add the path under “Additional Extensions Folders”

3
2
Define additional folders in which ACT
will search for extensions in order to
expose them in the Extension Manager
1
Notes:
• During the scan of the available extensions, the folders will be analyzed according to the following order:
1. The application data folder(e.g. %AppData%\Ansys\[version]\ACT\extensions)
2. The additional folders defined in the “Additional Extension Folders” property
3. The installation folder
4. The “extensions” folder part of the current Workbench project (if the project was previously saved with
the extension)
• If an extension is available in more than one of these locations, the 1st one according to the scan order is used
ERROR starting paid apps
• Paid apps needs a license in order to be activated in a project. It is a floating license of same type as for all other ANSYS
products and is limited in number of users (seats) and supported ANSYS versions.
• If you get this error: “An error occurred during loading the App name extension.” look in the Extensions Log File
(Extensions>View Log File) to see if you managed to check out the app license. Possible errors are:
– “Request name act_app_license does not exist in the licensing pool”
App license is not installed or license server not restarted after install or no app license available.
Solution: Start the “Client ANSLIC_ADMIN Utility” and list the license status.
– “License server system does not support this version of this feature”
Your are running a newer version of ANSYS than what is supported in the license. When buying the app you are
entitled to run current version plus one major upgrade, i.e. buying an app in version 17.0 will allow usage up to 18.2.
Solution: If you have a valid ANSYS version and the app does not start contact your ANSYS reseller and request a new
license file. If your ANSYS version is higher, e.g. 19.0, you have to buy a new version of the app to get a new license.
Bolt Toolkit

• Background
– Bolts and rivets are an important part of many assemblies but requires a lot
of manual work to define contacts, pretension, meshing and detailed post
processing.
• Solution
– The Bolt Toolkit app simplifies and speeds up the creation and post
processing of bolts and rivets. Features includes:
• Automation for Save and Import of entire bolt configuration.
• Bolt Contact Creation and Contact match automation (CAD bolts)
• Creation of groups of rivets including Eurocode 3 post processing
• Pretension on groups of existing bolts (CAD bolts).
• Creation of groups of simplified bolts (NVH-bolts) with pretension.
• Creation of groups of advanced bolts (brick mesh) with contacts, thread
interaction and pretension.
• Post processing of bolts and rivets includes Eurocode 3 and VDI 2230.
• General post processing of FE-based objects
News in V192.12

• Full support for 2019 R2, new GUI. (Require that “Service Pack” is installed)
• Bugfix for thermal analysis of rivets and improvements of rivet geometry
• Bugfix clearing old bolt results when solving on cluster
• Preference file to control automatic creation of csv files etc.
• Create Bolt contacts: Enough with ”bolt” in the name
• Check for valid material name in case material has been renamed in
Engineering Data
• More Eurocode 3 result options for rivet and bolts (Combined, Tension and
Shear)
Toolbar
• Save Bolt Configuration: Saves all rivet and bolt objects to a configuration file in the solution directory
• Import Bolt Configuration: Import all rivet and bolt objects from selected configuration file
• Optimize Bonded Contacts: Auto flip Contact/Target and set asymmetric option for selected contact folders or individual contacts
• Create Bolt Contacts: Create bonded contacts for parts with name containing “bolt”
• Bolt Contacts Match: Create contact match for all contact names containing “bolt”
• Rivet Group: Create rivets using group selection of edges where the app connects and creates the rivets and allow detailed post processing of section forces.
• Rivet Group Result: Detailed rivet results for each group of rivets both as contour plot and listings.
• Bolt Group Pretension: Create bolt pretension to many bolts in one object and to also allow detailed post processing.
• Simplified Bolt Group: Create bolts using group selection of edges and faces where the app creates the bolts with pretension and allow detailed post processing.
• Advanced Bolt Group: Like simplified bolt group but creates solid bolts and frictional contact at head and thread contact interaction.
• Bolt Group Result: Detailed bolt results for each group of bolts both as contour plot and listings.
• Mesh Result: Post processing of result file items (Temperature, Deformation, Strain, Stress, Contact and Material number)
• Open Preference File: Edit default settings and export options
• Bolt Toolkit Help: Detailed help is found in the on-line documentation.
Bolt Toolkit Help
• This “Power Point” version of the documentation does only include an overview of
all the features in the app.
• Please review the included on-line documentation from the “Open doc” button the
in the app for a detailed description with many examples on how to use the app.
Save and Import Bolt Configuration
• Save Bolt Configuration writes a text file in the current solution folder.
The file can be used as a template for creating user defined bolt configurations.
• Import Bolt Configuration reads a bolt configuration file and creates all objects in
the file.
• The Save/Import option can be used to copy the bolt setup from a Structural
analysis to a Thermal analysis or from one analysis to another.
It can also be used if the bolt configuration is defined outside of Mechanical or by
another automation app/Wizard.
• Note: Drag and drop between different analysis systems does not work. The copied
object will show up in the new system in the model tree but does still belong to the
original group as a hidden copy.
Optimize Bonded Contacts
• Bonded face to face contacts can be
optimized for bolt evaluation by setting
the smaller face as “Contact” and the
larger face as “Target” and change
behavior to “Asymmetric”.
• Select the “Connections” folder,
“Contacts” folders or individual
“Contacts” and click the button
“Optimize Bonded Contacts” to update
all selected objects.
• An info message will show the number
of selected contacts to optimize and
how many that was updated.
Bolt Contacts Automation
• Name each bolt part with “bolt” (case insensitive). Tip: Multi-select parts and press “F2”.
• Click the “Create Bolt Contacts” button. This will create a “Bolt Contacts” folder in the
Connections folder and create bonded contacts.
• Delete any existing duplicate bolt contacts in other contacts folders.
Bolt Contacts Match
• For tetrahedron meshed parts the bolt contacts match can be used to create a “Bolt Contacts
Match” folder in Mesh Edit and create corresponding mesh imprint for the bolt contacts.
Rivet Group (1)
• Rivet Head
− Scoping Method: Geometry Selection or Named Selection
− Geometry/Named Selection: Edges of rivet holes
• Definition
− Material: Rivet material name (from Engineering Data).
− Head Mass: Additional mass to add at the head.
− Shaft Diameter: Rivet shaft stress area diameter.
− Head Diameter: Limiting diameter for rivet head rigid body.
− Max thickness: Search distance for creating rivets, max
part thickness.
− Behavior: Rigid/Deformable/Custom(*)
• Graphics
− The active hole edges are plotted in thick red lines. The head diameter is plotted
as a green disc (normal to the rivet shaft) and the rivet shaft as a thick green line.
(Un connected hole edges are plotted in thin red lines)

(*) Custom behavior can be defined in the MAPDL macro file “buildRivet.mac”, see
following slides.
Rivet Group (2)
• FE model
− Rivet shaft with one beam elements (BEAM188) with circular solid cross section between
each section.
− Rivet heads as rigid or deformable region (CERIG/RBE3)

• Results
− Use “Rivet Group Result” to get detailed results from the rivets.
Rivet Group (3) Custom behavior
• The rivet connection behavior is defined in the macro file “buildRivet.mac” found in the extension
installation folder. (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Ansys\v192\ACT\extensions\BoltToolkit_V192.11)
• Edit the file in the sections “*else ! ‘Custom’” to define any type of connections using the center node on
the rivet shaft (_npilot) and the selected edge nodes.
Rivet Group Result (1)
• Geometry
− Scoping Method: Geometry Selection (default), or Named Selection.
• Definition
− Rivet Group: List of available rivet groups to post process.
To avoid duplicate names the rivet objects Id number is appended to the name.
When selecting a rivet group the corresponding geometry is automatically
selected.
− Rivet Result: List of available results to plot.
[Normal Force, Shear Force, Normal Stress, Shear Stress, Eurocode 3]
− Safety factor M2: Partial safety factor gM2. Default = 1.25 (Visible for Eurocode 3)
− Ultimate Strength fur: Rivet ultimate strength fur (Visible for Eurocode 3)
− Calculate Time History: [No/Yes] Calculate Time History Graph
− By: Time, Result Set, Maximum Over Time, Time Of Maximum
(Standard Mechanical Options)
− Display Time/Substep: Time or Substep to display.
• Graphical output
− Results are plotted on the rivet hole edges.
− Note 1: For coincident edges results are plotted (and listed) on one side only.
− Note 2: For shell models the force is displayed per shear section of the rivet and
not the total shear force in the hole edge. (For a solid model each hole edge
corresponds to one unique shear section of the rivet)
Note: There is no check for Eurocode 3 bearing resistance and the position of the
rivets on the parts.
Rivet Group Result (2)
• Text output
− All results for all result sets will also be printed in a text file in the solution folder named
“Result_object_Name_IdXX.lis”.
− For each rivet the results are listed for each section “Index” (in the order the sections edges was selected)
At coincident sections only one section is included in the list.
Rivet Group Result (3) Automatic csv export
• All rivet results are available after analysis in the solution folder saved as a csv file for each
rivet object, e.g. “Rivets_D12_Id5298.csv” and “rivetRes_Id5298.csv”.
These csv files are used when plotting “Rivet Group Results”. If the files are accidentally
deleted, they will be re-created by adding a “Rivet Group Result” and evaluate.
Rivet node: Section node number
Index: Rivet section index
X: Section location X (Global coordinates)
Y: Section location Y (Global coordinates)
Z: Section location Z (Global coordinates)
Beam elem: Beam element number connected to section node
Head elem: Point mass element number connected to head

Nset: Result set number

Index: Rivet section index
Rivet node: Section node number
X: Section location X (Global coordinates)
Y: Section location Y (Global coordinates)
Z: Section location Z (Global coordinates)
FX: Shear force 1
FY: Shear force 2
FZ: Axial force
MX: Bending moment 1
MY: Bending moment 2
MZ: Torsion moment
Bolt Group Pretension
• Bolt shaft
− Scoping Method: Geometry Selection or Named Selection
− Geometry/Named Selection: Edges of line bodies or Cylindrical faces of solid bodies or a
Component name
• Definition
− Pretension Force: Individual bolt pretension force
− Embedding: Pretension adjustment increment
− Load Step Apply: Load step to apply force
− Load Step Lock: Load step to lock bolt
− Load Step Embedding: Load step to add embedding
• Graphics
− A red arrow indicating the pretension normal starting in
the pretension node.
• FE model
− Pretension elements (PRETS179) and section
load is added at the centroid of each geometry
selection. Make sure that the centroid is on
free bolt shaft and not in a contact section.
• Results
− Use “Bolt Group Results” to get detailed results from
the bolts.
Simplified Bolt Group (1)
• Bolt Head
− Scoping Method: Geometry Selection or Named Selection
− Geometry/Named Selection: Edges of bolt holes or bolt head imprints on surfaces.
• Nut/Thread
− Geometry/Named Selection: Edges of bolt holes or bolt
nut imprints on surfaces to create a nut.
Cylindrical surfaces to create a thread.
• Definition
− Material: Bolt material name (from Engineering Data).
− Shaft Diameter: Bolt shaft stress area diameter, Dshaft.
− Head Diameter: Limiting diameter for bolt head.
− Head Mass: Additional mass to add at the head.
− Head Node Position: Head node offset factor, K, from contact plane.
Doffs = K*Dshaft
− Thread Node Position: Thread node relative position
0: beginning, 0.5: middle (default), 1: end
− Thread Length: Active length, L ≥ 0. Default=0 (whole thread face)
− Behavior: Rigid/Deformable/Custom(*) for bolt head/thread/nut
− Embedding: Pretension adjustment increment
− Load Step Apply: Load step to apply force
− Load Step Lock: Load step to lock bolt
− Load Step Embedding: Load step to add embedding
(*) Custom behavior can be defined in the MAPDL macro file “simpleBolt.mac”, see following slides.
Simplified Bolt Group (2)
• Graphics
− Head selection in red, nut/thread selection in blue. Bolt geometry in green.
− If “Thread Length” > 0 light blue circles are drawn to show the resulting thread length.
• FE model
− Bolt shaft with two beam elements (BEAM188) with circular solid cross section
− Pretension elements (PRETS179) and section load is added at the mid of each bolt shaft.
− Bolt head and nut/thread as rigid or deformable region (CERIG/RBE3)
Simplified Bolt Group (3) Custom behavior
• The simplified bolt connection behavior is defined in the macro file “simpleBolt.mac” found in the extension
installation folder. (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Ansys\v192\ACT\extensions\BoltToolkit_V192.12)
• Edit the file in the sections “*else ! ‘Custom’” to define any type of connections using the center node on
the rivet shaft (_npilot) and the selected edge nodes.
Advanced Bolt Group (1)
• Bolt Head
− Scoping Method: Geometry Selection or Named Selection
− Geometry/Named Selection: Edges of bolt holes. Must be connected to a planar faces.
• Nut/Thread
− Geometry/Named Selection: Edges of bolt holes to create a nut (planar faces).
Cylindrical faces to create a thread.
• Definition
− Bolt Geometry File: Bolt dimension dictionary
− Material: Bolt material name (from Engineering Data).
− Bolt Dimension M: Nominal bolt dimension in mm.
− Head Diameter: Outside diameter for bolt head (read only)
− Bolt Length: Limiting bolt length for a threaded bolt. Use zero to fill the entire thread
hole. Not used for a bolt/nut configuration.
− Head friction: Bolt head friction coefficient, m. Bonded if m = 1. No sep if m = 0
− Thread friction: Thread/Nut friction coefficient, m. Bonded if m = 1. No sep if m = 0
− Pretension Torque: Torque to calculate pretension force
− Tightening Factor: Reduction factor for pretension force
− Pretension Force: Individual bolt pretension force.
− Embedding: Pretension adjustment increment
− Load Step Apply: Load step to apply force
− Load Step Lock: Load step to lock bolt
− Load Step Embedding: Load step to add embedding
Advanced Bolt Group (2)
• Graphics
− Head selection in red, nut/thread selection in blue. Bolt geometry in green.
• FE model
− Brick elements (SOLID185) with frictional (or bonded) contact at head and nut/thread
(CONTA174). Head contact uses “projection-based method” for improved contact
calculation. Thread contact uses “thread contact section”. Contact morphing active by
default, see the on-line documentation for option to switch is off.
− Pretension elements (PRETS179) and section load is added at the mid of each bolt shaft.
− Bolt dimensions based on tabular values from csv-file in extension folder.
See the on-line documentation for details on how to create additional bolt types.
Advanced Bolt Group (3)
• Meshing tips
− Since the advanced bolt group uses frictional contact it is important to have a good mesh to get good
convergence and results.
− The bolt thread hole should have 16 elements around in order to match the bolt shaft and make the
thread contact section work. Use also a finer mesh in the axial direction since the thread forces are active
at the first few thread loops. Also use mapped face meshing for best fit.
− The bolt head (or nut) contact area should have inflation with two layers using first thickness of e.g. 2
mm to make a uniform stiffness around the bolt and make a good contact mesh. Mapped face meshing
may be used for circular bolt bosses to get the same effect.

Curvature 22.5° (or 16 elements)

& mapped face meshing
Inflation Thread wedging effect

Mesh setup Advanced bolt Von-Mises stress

Bolt Group Result (1)
• Geometry
− Scoping Method: All Bodies (default), Geometry Selection or Named Selection
− Geometry/Named Selection: Used to limit the display of results to only the
selected faces/bodies.
• Definition
− Bolt Group: List of available bolt groups to post process.
To avoid duplicate names the bolt objects Id number is appended to the name.
− Bolt Class: List of standard bolt class [5.8, 6.8, 8.8, 10.9, 12.9, 14.9, N/A]
− Bolt Result: List of available results to plot. [Normal Force, Shear Force, Bending
Moment, Eurocode 3, VDI 2230, Adjustment]
− Countersunk bolt: [No/Yes] Visible for Eurocode 3
− Safety Factor M2: Visible for Eurocode 3
− Ultimate Strength fub: Visible for Eurocode 3
− Yield Strength Rp02: Visible for VDI 2230
− Calculate Time History: [No/Yes] Calculate Time History Graph
− By: Time, Result Set, Maximum Over Time, Time Of Maximum
− Display Time/Substep: Time or Substep to display.
• Graphical output
− Results are plotted on the bolt shaft for “Bolt Group Pretension” objects and on
the head contact face for “Simplified” and “Advanced Bolt Group” objects.
Note: There is no check for Eurocode 3 bearing and punching resistance and the
position of the bolts on the parts. Also note that the shear force relates to the force
transmitted from the head to the nut/thread and that no force is transmitted by
bearing load on the shaft.
Bolt Group Result (2)
• Text output
− All results for all result sets will also be printed in a text file in the solution folder named
“Result_object_Name_IdXX.lis”.
− For each bolt there are three sections listed, 1: Head, 2: Pretension section, 3: At the nut/thread start
Bolt Group Result (3) Automatic csv export
• All bolt data is written to the solution output file. If the parameter “writeBoltDataToCsv = True” the data is written to
a csv file e.g. “Advanced_Bolts_M12_Id5306.csv”.
• All bolt results can be extracted during solution to a csv file e.g. “boltRes_Id5303.csv”.
Set the corresponding parameter to “True” (“post*OnSolve = True”)
• The “boltRes_Id*” files are used when plotting “Bolt Group Results”. If the files are accidentally deleted, they will be re-created
when evaluate a bolt result.
Pret. node: Pretension node number
Z: Pretension location Z (Local coordinates)
NX: Pretension normal X component
NY: Pretension normal Y component
NZ: Pretension normal Z component
Nset: Result set number
Sect.: Location along bolt shaft
Pret. node: Pretension node number
X: Section location X (Global coordinates)
Y: Section location Y (Global coordinates)
Z: Section location Z (Global coordinates)
Adjust: Pretension adjustment
Length: Bolt shaft length
Diam: Bolt shaft diameter
FX: Shear force 1
FY: Shear force 2
FZ: Axial force
MX: Bending moment 1
MY: Bending moment 2
MZ: Torsion moment
Mesh Result
• FE-based results for rivets and bolts can be easily plotted
using the predefined items in the drop down menu
(instead of opening the model in MAPDL)
• The result objects uses “Result File Item” as Scoping Method.
Open Preference File
• A number of settings can now be modified in the preference file to control writing of bolt parameters to file
(used for Report Generator) and rivet and bolt data.
• If solving on a remote cluster the rivet and bolt result csv files are not copied back to the project folder.
The parameters “post*OnSolve = False” can be used to speed up solver time if bolt results are not needed.
If adding rivet/bolt results after solving the csv result files are created in background.
Body temperature mapping
• Imported body temperatures and/or Thermal conditions will be automatically
mapped to the rivets and bolts for all load steps.
Temperatures will be linear interpolated between head and thread sections.
Known issues and limitations
• Opening a model solved in R17 or R18 in R19 requires that the “Solution” cell in the
Workbench system is cleared before opening Mechanical.
• The bolt tools cannot use Virtual Topology or External Models (faceted geometry).
Model assembly may work.
• Rivet and Bolt Group Results cannot use interpolated time steps, only time points
where there is a saved results set.
• Bolt results cannot evaluate on projects saved on a network path e.g.
“\\shared_drive\folder\project_files\” due to a limitation in the ACT API. The network
drive must be mapped to a drive letter, e.g. “P:\folder\project_files\”
• Only use alphanumerical letters and underscore in project name and file path.
• ANSYS 2019 R2 requires the service pack update to allow new results to be added after
the model is solved. (Version: 2019 R2.4)
• “Drag and drop” of rivets, simplified and advanced bolts between different analysis
systems does not work. The copied object will show up in the new systems group in the
model tree but does still belong to the original group as a hidden copy. Use the “Save”
and “Import” feature to duplicate bolt setup from one system to another.
References

• Bolt utilization calculation according to:

– Eurocode 3: EN 1993-1-8:2005. Design of steel structures - Part 1-8: Design of
joints [Authority: The European Union Per Regulation 305/2011, Directive
98/34/EC, Directive 2004/18/EC]
– VDI 2230 Part 1 – new edition 2003. Systematic calculation of high duty bolted
joints. Joints with one cylindrical bolt. ICS 21.060.10
• A demo model, “BoltToolkit_V192.12.wbpz”, is included in the installation package. This
project is used to demonstrate and verify the features of the app.
THANK YOU!
Magnus Gustafsson
magnus.gustafsson@edrmedeso.com