ptforce

Gabriele Manta

good morning, I know that the pre-tensioning force of a bolt is managed in optistruct by applying a cut in the bolt and through the use of an independent SPoint the loads are transferred to the points of the bolt on which the pre-tensioning has been applied to simulate the screwing of the nut and therefore the shortening of the operating area of ​​the bolt.
But I have a question. If I had to insert a negative pre-tensioning force, what would it mean?
Thanks

RobHoglund

Hi Gabriele,

Yes, the pretensioning load in OptiStruct shortens the length of the bolt to simulate bolt tightening.

When you input a positive value for PTFORCE, it's the force to tighten or shorten the bolt.

A negative value would simulate lengthening or stretching the bolt and then it would not be clamping other parts together.

Thanks,

Rob H.