Chapter 6

Design of Permanent Joints

Riveted Joints
Rivets as permanent joints:
 Often small machine components are joined together to form a
larger machine part. Design of joints is as important as that of
machine components because a weak joint may spoil the utility
of a carefully designed machine part.
 Mechanical joints are broadly classified into two classes' viz.,
non-permanent joints and permanent joints.
 Non-permanent joints can be assembled and dissembled
without damaging the components. Examples of such joints are
threaded fasteners (like screw-joints), keys and couplings etc.
 Permanent joints cannot be dissembled without damaging the
components. These joints can be of two kinds depending upon
the nature of force that holds the two parts. The force can be of
mechanical origin, for example, riveted joints, joints formed by
press or interference fit etc, where two components are joined by
applying mechanical force. The components can also be joined
by molecular force, for example, welded joints, brazed joints,
joints with adhesives etc.
 Rivets and Riveting
 A Rivet is a short cylindrical rod
having a head and a tapered tail. The
main body of the rivet is called shank
(see figure 6.1). According to Indian
standard specifications rivet heads are
of various types. Rivets heads for
general purposes are specified by
Indian standards IS: 2155-1982 (below
12 mm diameter) and IS: 1929-1982
(from 12 mm to 48 mm diameter).
Rivet heads used for boiler works are
specified by IS: 1928-1978. To get
dimensions of the heads see any
machine design handbook..
Rivet and its parts
 Riveting is an operation whereby two
plates are joined with the help of a
rivet.
 Riveting
 Riveting is an operation whereby two plates
are joined with the help of a rivet. Adequate
mechanical force is applied to make the joint
strong and leak proof. Smooth holes are
drilled (or punched and reamed) in two plates
to be joined and the rivet is inserted. Holding,
then, the head by means of a backing up bar as
shown in figure 6.2, necessary force is applied
at the tail end with a die until the tail deforms
plastically to the required shape.
 Depending upon whether the rivet is initially
heated or not, the riveting operation can be of
two types:
(a) cold riveting is done at ambient temperature
and
(b) hot riveting rivets are initially heated before
applying force. Riveting operation
After riveting is done, the joint is heat-treated by
quenching and tempering. In order to Head
Shank Tail ensure leak-proof ness of the joints,
when it is required, additional operation like
caulking is done.
 Types of Riveted Joints and Joint Efficiency:
 Riveted joints are mainly of two types
 1. Lap joints
 2. Butt joints
 Lap Joints:
 The plates that are to be joined are brought face
to face such that an overlap exists, as shown in
figure 6.3. Rivets are inserted on the
overlapping portion. Single or multiple rows of
rivets are used to give strength to the joint.
Depending upon the number of rows the
riveted joints may be classified as single riveted
lap joint, double or triple riveted lap joint etc.
When multiple joints are used, the
arrangement of rivets between two neigh
bouring rows may be of two kinds. In chain
riveting the adjacent rows have rivets in the
same transverse line. In zig-zag riveting, on the
other hand, the adjacent rows of rivets are
staggered. Different types of lap joints are
sketched in figure 6.4(a)-4(c).
Types of Lap joints:
Types of Lap joints:
 Types of Riveted Joints and Joint Efficiency:
 Riveted joints are mainly of two types
 1. Lap joints
 2. Butt joints
 Butt Joints
 In this type of joint, the plates are brought to each
other without forming any overlap. Riveted joints are
formed between each of the plates and one or two
cover plates. Depending upon the number of cover
plates the butt joints may be single strap or double
strap butt joints. A single strap butt joint is shown in
figure 6.5. Like lap joints, the arrangement of the
rivets may be of various kinds, namely, single row,
double or triple chain or zigzag. A few types of joints
are shown in figure 6.6(a)-6(c).
 The strength of a rivet joint is measured by its
efficiency. The efficiency of a joint is defined as the
ratio between the strength of a riveted joint to the
strength of an un riveted joints or a solid plate.
Obviously, the efficiency of the riveted joint not only
depends upon the size and the strength of the
individual rivets but also on the overall arrangement
and the type of joints. Usual range of the efficiencies,
expressed in percentiles of the commercial boiler
joints are given in table-6.1.
Types of Butt joints:

A single strap butt joint

Single rivet butt joint with single and double straps

Double rivet butt joint with single and double straps

(Chain arrangement)
Types of Butt joints:

Double rivet butt joint with single and double straps

(zig-zag arrangement)
Important terms used in riveted
joints:
 Few parameters, which are required to
specify arrangement of rivets in a riveted
joint, are as follows:
 a) Pitch: This is the distance between two
centers of the consecutive rivets in a single
row. (usual symbol p)
 b) Back Pitch: This is the shortest distance
between two successive rows in a multiple
riveted joint. (usual symbol ptor pb)
 c) Diagonal pitch: This is the distance
between the centers of rivets in adjacent
rows of zigzag riveted joint. (usual symbol
pd)
 d) Margin or marginal pitch: This is the
distance between the centres of the rivet
hole to the nearest edge of the plate. (usual Important design
symbol m) parameters of riveted joint
 A- Strength of riveted joint:
 Strength of a riveted joint is evaluated taking
all possible failure paths in the joint into
account. Since rivets are arranged in a
periodic manner, the strength of joint is
usually calculated considering one pitch
length of the plate. There are four possible
ways a single rivet joint may fail.
 a) Tearing of the plate: If the force is too
large, the plate may fail in tension along the
row (see figure 6.10). The maximum force
allowed in this case is
 pt = St (p-d) t
 Where; Failure of plate in tension (tearing)
 St = allowable tensile stress of the plate
material
 P = pitch
 d = diameter of the rivet hole
 t = thickness of the plate
 B- Shearing of the rivet
 The rivet may shear as shown in figure
6.11. The maximum force withstood by
the joint to prevent this failure is
 p2 = ts A for lap joint, single strap
butt joint
 p2 = 2 ts A for double strap butt
joint
 Where;
 ts = allowable shear stress of the rivet
material.
Failure of a rivet by shearing

1.875 In double shear, according to Indian Boiler Regulations)

 C- Crushing of rivet
 If the bearing stress on the
rivet is too large the contact
surface between the rivet and
the plate may get damaged.
(see figure 6.12). With a simple
assumption of uniform contact
stress the maximum force
allowed is
 p3= sc d t
 Where;
 sc = allowable bearing stress
between the rivet and plate
Failure of rivets by crushing
material.
d- Tearing of the plate at edge

 If the margin is too

small, the plate may
fail as shown in figure
6.13. To prevent the
failure a minimum
margin of m= 1.5d is
usually provided. Tearing of the plate at the edge
 Efficiency
 Efficiency of the single riveted joint can be obtained as ratio between the
maximum of p1, p2 and p3 and the load carried by a solid plate which is
st pt. Thus
min p1 , p2 , p3
 Efficiency (η) =
  . p.t
 In a double or triple riveted joint the failure mechanisms may be more
than those discussed above. The failure of plate along the outer row may
occur in the same way as above. However, in addition the inner rows may
fail. For example, in a double riveted joint, the plate may fail along the
second row. But in order to do that the rivets in the first row must fail
either by shear or by crushing. Further, the joint may fail by
 (i) Shearing of rivets in both rows
 (ii) Crushing of rivets in both rows
 (iii) Shearing of rivet in one row and crushing in the other row.
 The efficiency should be calculated taking all possible failure
mechanism into consideration.