Most mechanical connections are in one way or another exposed to some form of tear, wear, corrosion and fatigue, and likely to fail over time. If the contacting surfaces in a connection are exposed to tangential loading due to vibrations, small amplitude displacements called fretting can be induced at the surface, and might result in crack nucleation and possible propagation. The review and analysis reported herein are based on review of a wide range of studies reported in the literature during the last 25 years, which look into earlier studies around fretting fatigue in interference fit connections. In addition, a new method on how to obtain an interference fit is being mentioned as a possible way of increasing the joints fretting fatigue life. Previous investigations show clearly positive effects of finding and operating with the correct combinations of interference fit levels, palliative treatments and material choices to increase the fretting fatigue life.
A questionnaire-based survey has been performed among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), sub-suppliers, engineering companies, end-users, service & maintenance, and “others”, as part of an investigation to clarify their relationship to expanding pin system, compared to standard, cylindrical pins. In addition, a short literature study on onshore cranes is conducted. The survey is based on 9 questions about safety for personnel and machine, breakage, and wear of pins and supports, and installation and retrieval easiness of pins. The analysis of the responses indicates that safety for personnel and machines/equipment is regarded mainly as either “Important” or “Crucial and decisive”, and that the expanding pin solution is regarded as “better” or “equal” compared to the standard, cylindrical pin, both for “safety level”, “risk for breakage of pin & support”, “tear & wear on pin & support” and “installation and retrieval time”.
Bolted connections are widely used in parallel plates and flanged joints to axially lock using the preload generated by the tightening torque and to constrain radial movements of the flanges by the surface friction between mating surfaces. The surface friction depends on the micro-asperities of mating surfaces; under the influence of vibrations and other external radial loads, these asperities tend to deform over time, resulting in the failure of the connection. The Bondura expanding pin system presented in this article is an innovative axial and radial locking system, in which the failure of bolted connections due to radial movements is eliminated by relying on the mechanical strength of the pin system along with the surface friction. The present study describes an experimental design to verify the maximum possible preload on the axial-radial pin at different levels of applied torque. The article also provides a realistic comparison of the pin system with standard bolts in terms of handling axial and radial loads. With some alterations in the axial-radial pin system’s design, the joint’s capability to resist failure improved appreciably compared with the original design and standard bolts with higher preload. As a result, the estimated capability improvement of the joint against the connection failure due to the external radial load by the axial-radial pin is observed to be more than 200 % compared to standard bolts. Considering the pros and cons of both fasteners, i.e., axial-radial pin and standard bolts, a practical solution can be chosen in which both fasteners are used in a connection, and an optimized situation can be developed based on the working conditions.
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