ES13 - Mechanics of Deformable Bodies

ANALYSIS OF JOINTS AND

CONNECTIONS
Joints and Connections

• Many engineering structures and machines consist of

components suitably connected through carefully designed
joints.

• In metallic materials, these joints may take a number of

different forms:
 bolted joints
 riveted joints
 welded joints
Types of Riveted and Bolted Joints
• Lap Joint
– The plates are lapped over one another and fastened
together by one or more rows of connectors (rivets or
bolts)

• Butt Joint
– The plates are butted together and joined by two cover
plates connected to each of the main plates
Simple Riveted and Bolted Joints

Single-row bolted lap joint under tensile load

Analysis of Riveted or Bolted Joints

• In determining the strength of a joint, computations are

usually made for a length of joint corresponding to a repeating
pattern of connectors or repeating section.

• In calculations, it is also assumed that the diameter of the

connector is equal to that of the hole.
Failure Modes of Bolted Joints

1. Shearing Failure
2. Bearing Failure
3. Tensile Failure
Shearing Failure

• The bolts or rivets may fail by shearing.

• The failure load in shear, Ps is given by:

d 2
Ps  As  
4

d = diameter of both connector and hole

τ = maximum shearing stress the connector can withstand
Bearing Failure

• Relative movement between the plates may result from a

permanent enlargement of the connector hole caused by
excessive bearing pressure.

• The failure load in bearing, Pb is expressed as:

Pb  Ab b  td  b

d = diameter of both connector and hole

t = thickness of the plate
σb = maximum bearing stress that the connector & hole can withstand
Tensile Failure

• The main plate may fail by tearing on a section through the

connector hole.

• The failure load in tension, Pt is expressed as:

Pt  At t   p  d t t

d = diameter of both connector and hole

t = thickness of the plate
p = length of a repeating section
σt = ultimate tensile stress of the plate
Efficiency of a Connection

• The efficiency of a riveted or bolted joint indicates how well

the joint has been designed.

• The efficiency, η is expressed as:

P0 = maximum load that the joint can carry

Pult = maximum load that the solid plate can carry
Example
Two steel plates, each 1 cm thick, are connected by riveting them between
cover plates each 0.6 cm thick. The rivets are 1.6 cm in diameter. The tensile
stress in the plates must not exceed 140 MPa, and the shearing stress in the
rivets must not exceed 75 MPa.
a) Find the proportions of the joint so that it shall be equally strong in shear
and tension.
b) Estimate the bearing stress between the rivets and the plates.
c) Calculate the efficiency of the joint.
Welded Connections

Butt weld Fillet welds

• If the plates carry a tensile • If the joint carries a tensile

load, the weld material load, the welds carry largely
carries largely tensile shear stresses
stresses
Fillet Welds

• Fillet welds transmit force between the 2 plates by shearing

actions within the weld.
• The shear stress is greatest across the narrowest section of
the weld or the throat.

Throat of a fillet weld

Example

A steel strip 5 cm wide is fillet-welded to a steel plate over a length of

7.5 cm and across the ends of the strip. The connection carries a
tensile load of 100 kN. Find a suitable size of the fillet weld if
longitudinal welds can be stressed to 75 MPa and the transverse welds
to 100 MPa.