  Most large engineering structures are described as assemblies of plates and
shells and they are computed as such using adhoc Finite Element packages. In
fact their computation in 3D would be much too costly. In this framework, the
connections between the parts are often modeled by means of simplified tying
models. In order to improve the reliability of such simulations, we propose to
apply a non-intrusive technique so as to virtually substitute the simplified
connectors by a precise 3D nonlinear model, without modifying the global plate
model. Moreover each computation can be conducted on independent optimized
software. After a description of the method, examples are used to analyze its
performance, and to draw some conclusions on the validity and limitation of
both the modeling of junction by rigid connectors and the use of submodeling
techniques for the estimation of the carrying capacity of bolted plates.
