Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of Percussive Impact Riveting for Robotic Automation

Dynamic modeling and simulation of percussive impact riveting are presented for robotic automation. This is an impact induced process to deform rivets, which involves an impact rivet gun driven under pneumatic pressure to pound a rivet against a bucking bar. To model this process, first, a new approach is developed to determine the hammer output speed under input pneumatic pressure. Second, impact dynamics is applied to model the impact acting on the rivet under the hammer hits. Finally, elastoplastic analysis is carried out to derive nonlinear equations for the determination of permanent (plastic) deformations of the rivet when hitting the bucking bar. For simulation, numerical integration algorithms are applied to solve the impact dynamic model and determine the riveting time according to riveting specifications. Riveting tests are carried out for model validation. Agreement between the simulation and experimental results shows the effectiveness of the proposed method.