Mixed-mode stress intensity factors and critical angles of cracks in bolted joints by weight function method

Mechanical joints, such as bolted or riveted joints, are widely used in structural components. Reliable determination of stress intensity factors for cracks in bolted joints is required to evaluate their safety and fatigue life. The weight function method is an efficient technique to calculate stress intensity factors for various loading conditions by the stress analysis of an uncracked model. In this paper, the mixed-mode stress intensity factors for cracks in bolted joints are analyzed by the weight function method, and coefficients included in the weight function are determined by finite element analysis for reference loadings. The critical angle at which mode I stress intensity factor becomes maximum is determined, and the effects of the amount of clearance and crack length on the critical angle are investigated.