Relaxation behaviour of gasketed joints during assembly using finite element analysis

Abstract

Gasketed bolted flange pipe joints are always prone to leakage during operating conditions. Therefore, performance of a gasketed flange joint is very much dependent on the proper joint assembly with proper gasket, proper gasket seating stress and proper pre-loading in the bolts of a joint. For a gasketed flange joint, the two main concerns are the joint strength and the sealing capability. To investigate these, a detailed three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis of a gasketed joint is carried out using gasket as a solid plate. Bolt scatter, bolt bending and bolt relaxation are concluded as the main factors affecting the joint's performance. In addition, the importance of proper bolt tightening sequence, number of passes influence of elastic and elasto-plastic material modelling on joint performance are also presented. A dynamic mode in a gasketed joint is concluded, which is the main reason for its failure. © 2010 Indian Academy of Sciences.