5. Force transferred by a fastener

To be able to carry out a proper calculation of the fatigue life of a splice with several rows of fasteners, it is essential to be able to estimate the forces transferred by the various fasteners.

One might think that it would be sufficient to use the same method as that developed for the static calculation, replacing the caulked sections S _m by the sheared sections S _c . This method gives poor results and leads to a significant underestimation of the stresses experienced by the first-line fasteners, which are the first to be loaded and in the vicinity of which fatigue cracks will initiate.

On the other hand, 3D finite element studies require the modeling of an entire column of fasteners. They are complex and time-consuming to implement.