Ultrasonic estimation of clamping force in high-tension bolts

Abstract

High-tension bolts have been used widely for the clamping of many kinds of large structures. In these bolts, the estimation of clamping force has been regarded as the main issue in the evaluation of clamping condition. This paper proposes a method using ultrasonic wave, which is based on the dependency of sound speed on the stress. In order to verify the usefulness of the proposed method, two kinds of experiments are carried out. The first one involves the measurement of sound speed when the bolt is stressed by the tension tester, and here, the relationship between the exact axial force and sound speed is calibrated. The result shows good agreement with the expected linear relationship between sound speed and axial stress. The second experiment involves the measurement of axial stress by the proposed method when the bolt is stressed by the torque wrench. The results are coincident to the strain gage measurement. From these results, we can conclude that the proposed method is indeed useful in evaluating clamping force in high-tension bolts.