Having recently researched the issue of fastener integrity and was surprised how little logical information is available (compared to welding integrity)- I did come across this extract apertaining to use of Jam/Lock Nuts
LOCK NUT
There are two common usage’s of this term:
1. A nut which provides extra resistance to vibration loosening by either providing some form of prevailing torque, or, in free spinning nuts, by deforming and/or biting into mating parts when fully tightened.
2. The term is sometimes used for thin (or jam) nuts used to lock a thicker nut. When used in this way the thin nut should be adjacent to the joint surface and tightened against the thick nut. If placed on top of the thick nut the thin nut would sustain loads it was not designed to sustain.
Jam nuts. These nuts are normally "jammed" together as shown in Figure 7, although the "experts" cannot agree on which nut should be on the bottom. However, this type of assembly is too unpredictable to be reliable. If the inner nut is torqued more tightly than the outer nut, the inner nut will yield before the outer nut can pick up its full load. On the other hand, if the outer nut is tightened more than the inner nut, the inner nut unloads. Then the outer nut will yield before the inner nut can pick up its full load. It would be rare to get the correct amount of torque on each nut. A locknut is a much more practical choice than a regular nut and a jam nut. However, a jam nut can be used on a turnbuckle, where it does not carry any of the tension load.
Hope this helps
Trac