Assembly deformation prediction of riveted panels by using equivalent mechanical model of riveting process

The assembly deformation of skin panels can be introduced by the riveting process. However, it is computationally costly and time consuming to conduct the numerical simulation of the riveting process for each rivet in skin panels. Here, an equivalent mechanical model of the riveting process is established to improve the computational efficiency of the deformation prediction for the riveted structure. The axial pressure beneath the rivet driven head is solved in the equivalent mechanical model. The assembly deformation of riveted panels is found to be influenced by the axial pressure significantly, challenging the traditional analogy of riveting to the radial expansion process. In addition, the dependence of the radial pressure upon the radial displacement of the rivet hole is established. The characteristic of non-uniform distribution of the radial pressure along the thickness direction is taken into consideration. The deformations of riveted structures are predicted considering various heights of the rivet driven head and different materials of the panel. The effectiveness of the proposed model is evaluated by comparing the deformation results of the numerical simulation and those of the experimental measurement. This investigation can help to predict the deformation of large riveted structures and improve the awareness of the effect of axial pressure on the assembly deformation.