A new approach for evaluating fatigue lives of multi-fastener mechanical joints based on a nominal stress concept and minimal datasets

New formulae are derived to predict the normal bypass, transfer and nominal stresses around the fastener holes on multi-fastener mechanical joints under plane stress conditions. A modified method based on the nominal stress concept is developed to evaluate fatigue lives of complex multi-fastener joints. The method is informed by fatigue characteristics of joints with similar structural details. Fatigue tests on two-rivet, four-rivet and eight-rivet joints were performed and damage mechanisms are deduced from fractographs. Good correlation is achieved between the predictions and actual experiments, demonstrating the practical and effective use of the proposed method.