The riveted type of construction is characteristic of older railway bridges. As some of these bridges approach, or have even exceeded their theoretical fatigue life under increasing train loads, it is desirable to improve the procedures available for the assessment of fatigue-critical details. The aim of this paper is to present results through the use of the FE method, which address the manner...

The durability of adhesive joints is of special concern in structural applications and moisture has been identified as one of the major factors affecting joint durability. This is especially important in applications where joints are exposed to varying environmental conditions throughout their life. This paper presents a methodology to predict the stresses in adhesive joints under cyclic moistu...

Department of Systems and Information Engineering, Ashikaga Institute of Technology, Ashikaga 326-8558, Japan † Fuzzy Logic Systems Institute, Iizuka 820-0067, Japan Abstract In this paper, we formulate an optimal riveted joints design (ORD) problem of a through gusset plate on a frame structure for a constrained allowable stress as a rigid structural calculation problem and solve it directly b...

An issue of concern in aging aircraft is the growth of multiple cracks emanating from a row of fastener holes, typically in a pressurized aircraft fuselage lap splice. This multisite damage (MSB), or widespread fatigue damage, if allowed to progress, can suddenly become catastrophic. The understanding of the failure behavior dictates the level of compromise between safety and economy. The compl...

This paper is concerned with a fatigue study of composite adhesive lap joints produced from a bi-directional woven E-glass fibres and polypropylene. The adhesive used was a Bostik 7452 (Rubber & Plastics Grade) ethyl cyanoacrylate type. The effects of layer orientation, lap joint length and water immersion on the fatigue behaviour were studied. The specimens were immersed in water during period...