Analysis of Residual Stresses Induced by Riveting Process and Fatigue Life Prediction

Abstract

Residual stress induced by riveting process is critical to the fatigue life of riveted structures. A residual stress model is proposed to predict the residual stress distribution after riveting process. In the residual stress model, the radial pressure at the hole boundary is obtained, and the strain hardening effect of the rivet material is taken into consideration. The other characteristic of the model is that the solution of radial and circumferential residual stresses is extended to include an unfree springback process by using a springback coefficient. The residual stresses on the faying surface with various parameters, such as the height of the rivet drive head, the hole diameter, and the material property, are predicted with the residual stress model. The residual stresses calculated by the model are employed in the fatigue life prediction using the multi-axial fatigue criterion. The predicted results of the fatigue life show a good agreement with the experimental data. The investigation in this paper can help the residual stress prediction of riveted joints and improve the awareness of the effect of the residual stress on the fatigue behavior of riveted structures.