Current research investigates residual stresses at two critical crack-nucleation sites: Site L- contact corner at lower plate with bucked
rivet head; and Site U- upper plate corner under rivet hat in consideration of manufacturing variations on rivet hole of a single-lap joint structure through finite element (FE) analysis. The testing matrix consists of two geometric quality parameters (hole diameter and straightness, in term of conicality) of a hole, and two rivet insertion patterns- (BOI model- Drill Bit entry direction Opposite to rivet Insertion direction, and BCI model- Drill Bit entry direction Consistent with rivet Insertion direction). From FE analysis, residual stresses at Site L, associated with higher level of geometric variation (larger hole diameter and conicality), have greatly reduced 95.29% for BOI model, but only 4.04% for BCI model. Tensional residual stress, both at Site L and Site U, of BOI models are averaged smaller than BCI models’ attributing to uniformly developed contact.Though compressive residual stresses at Site U reduce the probability of crack initiation, high tensional residual stresses at Site L increase risk of potential fatigue damage for BCI models. Deburred process at Site L is a simple operation but can transform the residual stress into compressive status effectively.