ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins with some background material on the strength of bolts and of threads, the stiffness of bolts and joint members, and reviews the properties of the materials usually used for these things. It deals with subjects like assembly practices, in-service behavior of the joint, and failure modes rather than design specifics, everything relates to and should affect the design of bolted joints. The book focuses on properties that affect basic strength and which affect the stability of the parts. It presents the joint in service: how it responds to service loads and conditions, how it fails, how to improve its response and minimize the chances of failure. Separation of the members of a joint supporting tensile loads can encourage rapid fatigue failure of the bolts.
