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Experimental and numerical studies of stress/strain characteristics in riveted aircraft lap joints

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Abstract

The fatigue property of riveted lap joint is greatly related to the riveting-induced residual stress, especially the stress distribution on the faying surface. However, an accurate study of the residual stress characteristics in the riveted sheet could be very difficult. In this paper, both numerical and experimental investigations were carried out on the stress/strain characteristics in riveted aircraft lap joints. A special specimen was designed for the test of strain variations on the faying surface of the sheet by microstrain gages. For the numerical simulation, the rivet squeezing process was analyzed using the explicit dynamic finite element (FE) method, whilst a general static FE analysis was employed for the elastic springback after the squeeze force was removed. A comparison of the strain variations between the experimental results and FE simulations shows a general good agreement, although there may be some difference for points measured near the hole surface. The FE analysis reveals that both compressive and tensile residual stresses could be introduced in the riveted sheet. Massive compressive residual stress can be created in the near-surface layer of the hole. However, the stress level is not always increased with increasing the squeeze force, and so is the improvement of fatigue life observed. Further study is still necessary to account for the fatigue life decreasing effect caused by a high squeeze force.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51575273) and the Specific Funds for Integrated Military-Civilian Development from Guizhou Institute of Technology (Grant No. KJZX17-011) and Natural Science Foundation of Guizhou Province (Grant No. 20161065).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aerospace Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang, 550003, China

    Chao Zeng, Xiang Yao Liu & Jiu Tian Xue

  2. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Wei Tian

Authors
  1. Chao Zeng
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  2. Wei Tian
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  3. Xiang Yao Liu
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  4. Jiu Tian Xue
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Correspondence to Chao Zeng.

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Recommended by Associate Editor Zhuhua Tan

Chao Zeng is an Associate Professor of the School of Aerospace Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang, China. He received his Ph.D. in aerospace manufacturing engineering from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research interests include aircraft assembly, strength evaluation, and fatigue.

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Zeng, C., Tian, W., Liu, X.Y. et al. Experimental and numerical studies of stress/strain characteristics in riveted aircraft lap joints. J Mech Sci Technol 33, 3245–3255 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-019-0620-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-019-0620-7

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