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Fatigue Crack Growth in Riveted Joints

By S.A. Fawaz,
Nov. 1997
Delft University Press
ISBN: 90-407-1520-3
252 p.
$69.50 Paper Original


The present investigation covers an experimental part and an analytical part based on the fracture mechanics concept. The aim is to extend empirical information on the growth of small and larger cracks in riveted lap splice joints, similar to joints found in operational transport aircraft. Further, it extends the possibilities for fatigue crack growth predictions for small part through cracks to larger through cracks with oblique crack fronts. A characteristic aspect of fatigue riveted lap joints is the occurence of crack growth under a complex stress system, which in its simplest form consists of cyclic tension with superimposed cyclic bending due to the eccentricity in the lap joint. In reality, rivet squeezing leads to hole expansion and built-in residual stresses. Rivet tilting in the rivet hole and the contact problems are other complications.

Aerospace