Fatigue life prediction model for riveted lap joints

Abstract

Applicability of currently available approaches to predict the fatigue life of riveted joints in aircraft structures is limited to cases when the actual joint, for which the predictions are made, and the reference joint, for which the prediction model has been tuned, differ only in the geometry. It is required that the riveting process should be similar for the actual and reference case, but the similarity criterion cannot be formulated in a precise way. In the prediction model developed by the authors and presented in this paper the influence of riveting on the fatigue life of a joint is unambiguously characterized by measurable quantities, namely rivet hole expansion and the load transfer distribution. Hence, the similarity of the riveting processes for the reference and actual joint is no longer required, which considerably extends the transferability of the reference results. A validation of the model is performed by comparing fatigue lives computed and observed in over 80 fatigue tests on aluminium alloy, lap joint specimens with three rivet rows, typical for aircraft fuselage skin connections in the longitudinal direction. Various combinations of production variables, such as sheet material and thickness, the squeeze stress and rivet type, were involved. A significant improvement in the present model prediction accuracy compared to a model which disregards the effect of riveting has been noted. Specifically, underestimates or overestimates of the fatigue life observed for the latter model in the case when hole expansion of the actual joint is larger or smaller respectively than for the reference joint are avoided with the present approach.