The riveting process in the aerospace industry underlies high requirements to achieve the expected manufacture quality. Process parameters, the choice of materials, and the joint configuration are some influencing factors that can affect the mechanical properties of riveted joints. These high requirements constitute challenges that drive manufacturers to a better understanding of the riveting process. The numerical study of the effect of the installation parameters on the mechanical properties of mechanically fastened joints is one tool to achieve this aim.
Usually, three-dimensional finite element simulations of both installation process and mechanical loading of the joint in service must be performed to make detailed numerical predictions of the joint behavior. This paper aims at the reduction of the computational effort. It deals with the transfer of the stress and strain state resulting from the rivet installation, obtained by a two-dimensional, rotational symmetric model, to a full 3D simulation of a single lap shear tests. The rivet installation simulation has been presented on last years' SAE-conference.
The method to include the stress state originating from the rivet installation into the numerical investigation of riveted joints is applied to a well known lap shear joint configuration. The joint consists of a solid rivet with universal head described by EN6081 and aluminum adherends (2024- T351). The results of lap shear simulations using the developed method have been compared to those of a pure three-dimensional model and have been validated by comparison with experimental data and values from literature.
TOPIC CATEGORY: Automated Fastening / Simulation