peteroznewman
Subscriber
In general, the force passing through a bolted connection has to add up to the same value independent of how the bolted joint is modeled. Force equilibrium is required in the FEA solution.
In general, the stress in parts far from the bolted connection will be the same independent of how the bolted joint is modeled, which is St. Venant's principle.
Special cases can be found where this is not true, such as when the bolt is creating a global pre-stresses state when the fastener is tightened. In that case, a line body with no pretension will not give the same global stress in the part as one with pretension.
Regards
Peter
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