Modelling the strength of self-piercing riveted joints

Abstract : Predicting the mechanical strength of self-piercing riveted structures is of prime importance in industry. This chapter describes how numerical simulation can be used to obtain accurate predictive results. First, it is important to account for the mechanical history of the material resulting from the SPR process as input data for the mechanical strength simulation. The use of a coupled damage approach to account for the progressive mechanical degradation of the materials' properties is recommended. The materials' properties and damage parameters have to be carefully identified. Inverse analysis is an efficient methodology to obtain the materials' parameters. Finally, some finite element simulations are presented and validated with respect to mechanical tests. The numerical approach presented here also enables the equivalent elements that can be used at the structure scale to be defined.