Numerical and experimental studies of the riveting process

As one of important mechanical joining methods, rivet joints are widely used in buildings, bridges, aircrafts and automotives and in many other fields. Many variables have influences on the response of the rivet joints, such as the geometry of the joints, the material parameters of the parts, the clearance of the assembly, etc. In this paper, a finite element numerical model is developed for the analysis and optimization of the riveting process. Our approach is three-dimensional in order to be able to model non axisymmetric situations of riveting and testing of the joint strength. Four different sizes of solid rivets are considered for simulation and experimental study of the process. The comparison of the results between the numerical simulations and the experiments allows us to validate our approach.