Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Mechanics Of Bolted Electrical Splices, Samuel Alberts

Theses and Dissertations

Localized heating of bolted electrical splices in the power distributing bus is a primary concern in the industrial automation industry. While localized heat generation problems are commonly reported in the field, it is not entirely clear what the root causes are. A methodology is presented for development of a tool to measure in-situ the influence of clamping load on the thermo-electric behavior of the splice joint. Applied research and reasoning used to identify probable root causes for failures reported in the field are also presented. Experiments were conducted to characterize the mechanical properties of the bolt and nut system used …