Abstract: A finite element modeling method was studied and investigated for bolted joints in this paper. Taking the bolted flange connection as example,three kinds of finite element models,including solid bolt model,beam bolt model and rigid bolt model,were introduced based on finite element software ANSYS. And modal test and stress analysis were carried out. The results show that the solid bolt model and beam bolt model can be used for accurate static and dynamic analysis for the bolted flange connection,and possess wide applicability. Compared with the solid bolt model,the beam bolt model can improve modeling and computational efficiency,keeping key details. The rigid bolt model can only suit for modal analysis,and can't simulate the bolt pretension and contacts. Both experiment and simulation indicate that the magnitude of bolt pretension has little influence on structural natural frequency and mode shape. The simulation results show that the bolted joints have complex nonlinear behavior,such as nonlinear variation of stress,contact status variation between flanges,nonlinear variation of bolt tension,et a l.