These can be accessed by either clicking on ‘Calculation’ on the main menu and then choosing one of the options from the next screen, or by hovering over the ‘Calculations’ link on the menu and clicking on the specific standard you need, all calculation types follow the same basic procedure.
To perform a calculation, first select your desired method of tightening, displayed pressure units and if necessary lubricant from the “Options” section.
These options can be changed at any time during the calculation, but you will need to click on the “Calculate” button to refresh the changes.
For a tensioning calculation you are offered an offer for ‘Cover’ this refers to the number of tools you will be using on the joint in question,
100% - one tool per bolt,
50% - one tool on every other bolt,
25% on tool on every 4th bolt
For a torquing calculation the option changes to ‘Breakout’, if the tool is to be used to remove bolts that have previously been tightened and have been in service for some time then the list of available tools is expanded to show those with a higher torque capacity as it can sometimes take up to 2.5x the original input torque to remove the bolts.
Next fill in the “Joint Details” section
Once you have filled in all the required data, click on the "Calculate" button and you will be given a list of available tools as shown below.
After selecting a tool, any tool fit warnings will be displayed in the “Messages” section.
The results of the calculations are displayed on the right of the screen showing a diagram of the selected flange and the corresponding values in the ‘Diagram Values’ section, data on the full joint (i.e. two flange) is shown below that along with other useful information including the required residual load and stress, minimum required bolt stress to seal the joint and applied stress using the tool selected.
Tool pressure and a summary of required loads and stresses are shown at the bottom of the screen along with an image of the tool selected.
There are more advanced options within the ANSI and API calculations allowing the user to override the joint thickness, alter the recommended bolt stresses (for example to customer specified values).
To access simply click on the "Advanced Calculation Settings Button"
Enter in the data as required and then click on the ‘Calculate (Override)’ button, these values will then appear in the joint data and tightening values sections.
Once you have finished the calculation a datasheet can be produced by clicking on the ‘Create Datasheet’ button below the tool image (see module 4 for details)
