Riveting and bolting are the most common mechanical connections in an aircraft structure. The structure failure usually initiates around a connection and shear is the most common failure mode. Using nonlinear FEA of a 3D detailed riveted plate Abaqus model，the calculated non-linear rivet stiffness was then incorporated in a fine shell model, which is to be used in real structure analyses, with rivets modeled using Abaqus fastener elements. Results indicated that the calculated rivet forces were equivalent to those from the 3D detailed model. A program for paramterized 3D modeling, analysis and stiffness extraction was developed for the efficiency requirement in engineering analyses of large deal of connections. Finally, the proposed method was utilized in a numerical simulation of a destroy test of an actual aircraft structure.The calculation results show satisfactory match with test results, indicating the important engineering investigation value of the proposed method for numerical study of the failure mechanism of complex aircraft structures.