Parametric study on fatigue behavior of steel friction connections in shear

A parametric study on the fatigue behavior of steel friction connections was conducted in this paper. Fatigue failure mechanism of the connections and two periods of fatigue life were discussed in detail. The procedure to predict the fatigue life of steel friction connections was proposed using the finite element method, and was verified by the fatigue test results. A parametric study was then performed based on the prediction procedure. Considering the connection type, bolt related parameters, and plate related parameters, a total of ten cases were included in the parametric study. The results show that the fatigue strength of single lap connections is much lower than that of double lap connections, which is caused by the local bending of bolted plates and contact status change on the interface. Fatigue behavior of the single lap connections is greatly affected by the number of bolts, steel grade, and hole-making process, while the fatigue behavior of the double lap connections is greatly affected by the bolt preload, slip factor, main plate thickness, steel grade, and hole-making process.