The design of fastened joints consists in choosing adequate geometric, material and joining parameters, such as the ratio of fastener diameter to adherent thickness or clamping force in order to ensure target mechanical performances of the assembly. Deviations of nominal values of design parameters as geometric errors involve in most cases a decrease in the mechanical performance and reliability of the assembly1,2. This paper proposes a method to analyse the fastening process of parts that include geometric form defects. The structural behaviour of the joint is simulated using a finite element model combining connectors and rigid surfaces to represent fasteners3,4 . With this approach, the calculation time can be drastically reduced while frictional contact is maintained between fasteners and parts. Shape defects are generated by translating parts mesh nodes. The method is applied to a case study and its efficiency is evaluated by analysing the evolution of axial bolt preloads and transverse bolt forces during the assembly process as shown in Fig .1. Results demonstrate the ability of the method to simulate different clamping sequences and to capture the interaction between shape defects, bolt-hole clearance and target axial preload.