On the estimation of fatigue life in bolt clamped Al-alloy 2024-T3 plates

A numerical method has been used to predict the fatigue life of bolt clamped double shear lap joints. The employed method combines the initiation and propagation phases of the fatigue life without a prior definition of an initial crack length. Finite element analyses have been performed to obtain the created pre-stress field due to bolt clamping force. The calculated stress and strain distributions from the finite element analyses were employed to predict fatigue crack initiation life. To obtain the effective stress intensity factor for the estimation of fatigue crack growth life using Paris law, a weight function method was employed.