Abstract: Based on the fracture model of carbon fiber reinforced plastics（CFRP） composites and the Johnson-Cook constitutive model of AA6061 aluminum alloy, the self-piercing riveting（SPR） process of CFRP upper plate/AA6061 lower plate was numerically simulated, and the simulation results were verified and analyzed through riveting experiments. The results show that the lap joining type with CFRP as upper plate and AA6061 as lower plate can form an effective internal interlocking structure; through the comparison between simulation and experiment, the error of riveting quality parameters is kept within 10%. Through the joint section, it is found that fiber breakage and crushing failure mainly occur in CFRP internal fibers. During riveting, the change of punch load is divided into two stages, namely CFRP piercing process and aluminum alloy filling die process, the maximum punch load is 18.87 kN. The stress of CFRP interlaminar characteristic points increases from top to bottom along the thickness direction, and the maximum stress of the riveted joint is concentrated at the rivet, which is 725.9 MPa.