On the fatigue performance of Aluminum alloy 2024 scarfed lap joints

A series of fatigue test were carried out on scarfed lap joints (SLJ) using in airfoil siding to explore the effect of structural details, such as rows of rivets, lap angles, on its fatigue performance. Finite element (FE) analysis was employed to explore the effect of lap angle on load transfer and the stress evolution around the rivet hole. At last, the fatigue lives were predicted by nominal stress approach and critical plane approach. Both of the test results and predicted results showed that fatigue life of SLJ was remarkably increased after introducing lap angle into the faying surface. Specimen with the lap angle of 1.68o exhibits the best fatigue performance in the present study.