It is well recognized that bolted flange joints operating at high temperature are often very difficult to seal. The existing flange design methods including that of the ASME code do not address thermal effects other than the variation of flange and bolt material mechanical properties with temperature. It is possible to include the effects of temperature loading in the flexibility analysis of the joint. However, the temperature profile to be known to determine the radial and axial thermal expansion displacements of the joint elements to he used in the analysis. This paper outlines the theoretical analysis used for the determination of the steady state operating temperature profile, the thermal expansion displacements of the joint components and the bolt load changes for the case of a flange joint with a blind cover. The results from the proposed analytical model are verified by comparison to finite element results of three different sizes of bolted joints.
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