1 Basic Features

Shear joints are structural details for fastening panels together to form a load carrying connection. Such joints are also referred to as shear connections or splices and they can be fastened with rivets, bolts, adhesive or welds. The term panel is used here to mean either sheet, plate, beam, cylinder or vessel. The contrasting features of four common shear joints are illustrated in Figure 1.1:

Butt Joint. The butt or double shear joint, shown in Figure 1.1a, is formed by fastening two abutting panels with overlapping side panels. The external load is applied to the abutting panels, creating a state of nearly pure shear in two planes of the fastener shank and pure in-plane (2-dimensional) deformation in the two center panels. The bending of the fasteners and out-of-plane movements of the side panels are restricted by close-fitting fastener holes and presence of the middle panel, and are usually negligible.

Attachment Joint. This is a panel loaded along one edge and fastened to a relatively rigid supporting structure.The response is largely 2-dimensional.The limiting case, treated in this text is for an attachment joint whose fasteners and support structure are rigid and fixed in space.