Modelling of bolt fracture

Abstract: Computer simulations are widely used in the truck industry in order to provide assistance in the product development. Bolt joints are common in trucks. A bolt fracture usually has a great influence on how a truck structure will behave in a crash. Therefore, when simulating truck crashes it is important to be able to predict when bolt fracture occurs. A material model for 10.9 bolts has been calibrated and validated by using the finite element software LS-DYNA. The material model consists of a failure strain surface, which depends on the triaxiality, Lode parameter and the element size. In this thesis, the calibrated material model is referred to as the bolt model. A good agreement to predict the force at fracture in bolts between simulation model results and physical test results has been obtained. Still, further validation is needed to evaluate the bolt model completely.