Simulating the Effect of Friction on Drive Screw Using System-of-System Modeling with Predetermined Torque

Abstract

In most mechanical systems, screw threads serve three main basic purposes: (i) to transmit power, (ii) to provide a clamping force, and finally (iii) to restrict or control motion. This chapter demonstrates the effects of friction and behavior which can occur in a bolted fastening (screw thread) for advanced design purposes. To model this behavior, other control components are attached to the bolted screw. The bolt preload is applied with a predetermined torque. For this case the preload depends on the friction under the head and in the thread. The friction prevents the loosing of the bolted fastening. This effect is termed as self-locking effect. We designed an algorithm that reproduces an exemplary simulation scenario, which determines friction and its effect on thread angle based on the strength of the coefficient of friction at a specific tension or clamp load value using the system-of-system approach. The result shows specific behavior on both the motion in threads and drive screw with predetermined torque. The chapter is limited to creating a simple simulation environment to demonstrate the effects.