Tension failure analysis for bolted joints using a closed-form stress solution

Bolted joints are widely used to connect safety-critical parts in the aeronautical industry and require precise structural assessment tools. Focus of this paper is the development of an overall analytical calculation method to determine the stresses of a bolted joint with quasi-isotropic composite material, which is then used in a tension failure analysis. The stress solution is obtained by means of the Airy stress function. To predict crack initiation in the tension failure analysis use is made of the Theory of Critical Distances. Crack initiation occurs in the net section plane and its assessment requires precisely calculated net section stresses. For this purpose, the stress boundary conditions in load direction at the straight free edges must be fulfilled, which is reached by supplementing the field modelling the load introduction with auxiliary functions. This technique is a physically motivated means to deal with symmetric finite geometry problems involving straight free edges. However stress boundary conditions perpendicular to the load direction are not covered and some inaccuracies in the stress solution may arise. A failure analysis is conducted to investigate their impact on the predicted failure load using literature values based on Finite Fracture Mechanics as reference.