A Re-Analysis on Fatigue Data of Aluminium Alloy Bolted Joints

A great deal of work has been done in the last years to improve the state of knowledge on fatigue behaviour of aluminium bolted joints, as well as the calculation methods and design standards. This paper summarizes the results of a statistical analysis performed on ca 750 fatigue data reported in the literature or, more recently, obtained by several laboratories. All data are pertinent to friction and bearing-type aluminium butt splice bolted joints. In spite of the fact that a large number of factors could theoretically influence the fatigue behaviour and the failure modes of the joints (yield stress of the plates, type of bolts, bolt pattern, bolts to member ratio, nominal load ratio, surface finishing, plate thickness and so on), it will be demonstrated that all data can be summarized in a very reduced number of scatter bands the reference values of which, being related to different probabilities of survival, can be used for establishing trends, planning future research and for design purposes.