Riveting process modeling and simulating for deformation analysis of aircraft's thin-walled sheet-metal parts

The riveting joint is one of the important joint methods to permanently fasten two thin-walled sheet-metal parts. It is most basic to efficiently analyze and estimate the deformation of the riveting joint for the performance, fatigue durability and damage of the riveting structure in the aircraft. This paper researches the riveting process mathematics modeling and simulating to more accurately analyze deformation of thin-walled sheet-metal parts. First, the mathematics and mechanics models for the elastic deformation, plastic deformation and springback of the rivet are built by mechanics theory. Second, on the basis of ABAQUS system, a finite element system, an instance made up of the rivet and two thin-walled sheet-metal parts of aluminum alloy is used to analyze and simulate the stress and deformation. What's more, a comparison is made between the results obtained by the mathematics and mechanics models and those by finite element method (FEM). The models are proved true by the calculating and simulation results of the instance.