Abstract
In aeronautical and automotive industries the use of rivets for applications requiring several joining points is now very common. In spite of a very simple shape, a riveted junction has many contact surfaces and stress concentrations that make the local stiffness very difficult to be calculated. To overcome this difficulty, commonly finite element models with very dense meshes are performed for single joint analysis because the accuracy is crucial for a correct structural analysis. Anyhow, when several riveted joints are present, the simulation becomes computationally too heavy and usually significant restrictions to joint modelling are introduced, sacrificing the accuracy of local stiffness evaluation. In this paper, we tested the accuracy of a rivet finite element presented in previous works by the authors. The structural behaviour of a lap joint specimen with a rivet joining is simulated numerically and compared to experimental measurements. The Rivet Element, based on a closed-form solution of a reference theoretical model of the rivet joint, simulates local and overall stiffness of the junction combining high accuracy with low degrees of freedom contribution. In this paper the Rivet Element performances are compared to that of a FE non-linear model of the rivet, built with solid elements and dense mesh, and to experimental data. The promising results reported allow to consider the Rivet Element able to simulate, with a great accuracy, actual structures with several rivet connections.
Highlights
Riveting is one of the most widely used technology for joining laminar structures in industrial sectors, where objectives of lightness and multiple spot connections distribution are solved.The rivet represents an optimal solution when thin sheets are connected and substitutes welding technologies in case of lightweight alloys that are hardly weldable
Rivet Element capability of structural behaviour simulation is investigated for different geometries of riveted lap-shear specimen
The Rivet Element (RE) is a FE assembly able to simulate the joint stiffness using a reduced number of dofs. For this reason its application is suitable in case of complex multi-riveted structures
Summary
Riveting is one of the most widely used technology for joining laminar structures in industrial sectors, where objectives of lightness and multiple spot connections distribution are solved. In Hanssen et al (2010) another important application of simplified rivet modelling is presented, where spot connections are implemented in explicit FE analysis of crash phenomena In this case, the connector element is able to describe a self-piercing rivet behaviour until the failure. In case of fatigue life prediction, whatever the used approach, the priority is the correct evaluation of local joint stiffness that drives to the real distribution of loads on every single joint (especially in a multi-connected structure). A joint model that combines a reduced number of degrees of freedom (dof) with a good accuracy of local stiffness evaluation, based on a theoretical solution of the region near to the rivet, has been proposed in Vivio (2007) and improved in Vivio (2009). Numerical values of the parameters, that represent the best estimate of joint stiffness, have been identified
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More From: International Journal of Advanced Structural Engineering
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