Fretting Fatigue of Riveted Lap Joints in Aircraft Fuselage

Abstract

Failure of riveted lap joints originating from fretting fatigue has been responsible for a number of structural failures of aircraft in midflight. Using a combination of extended finite element method analysis and experimental data, this paper investigates the formation and propagation of cracks initiated by fretting, and how it is influenced by rivet squeeze force and by the applied fatigue stresses. It is found that fretting and plain fatigue crack growth life increase with the increase of rivet squeeze force. However, the rise of applied fatigue stress reduces fretting and plain fatigue crack growth life. Moreover, enhancing rivet squeeze force or applied fatigue stress decreases the ratio of fretting to total fatigue crack growth life.