Many different types of rivets need to be modeled to analyze the crashworth
iness of aircraft structures. A numerical procedure based on FE modeling an
d characterization of material failure constitutive models is proposed here
in with the aim of limiting the costs of experimental procedures otherwise
necessary to obtain these data. Quasi-static and dynamic experiments were c
arried out on elementary tension (punched) and shear (riveted) specimens. N
o strain rate sensitivity was detected in the failure behavior of the rivet
ed joint assemblies. Experimental data were used to identify the Gurson dam
age parameters of each material (2024-T351 and 7050 aluminum alloys for the
sheet metal plate and the rivet respectively) by an inverse method. Charac
terization gave rise to satisfactory correlation between FE models and expe
riments. Optimized parameters were validated for each material by means of
a uniaxial tension test for the sheet metal plate and an ARCAN type specime
n in pure tension for the rivet.