New concepts for strength enhancement of co-cured composite single lap joints

Often the benefits of utilizing composites are diminished by the poor performance of their joint designs. This research examines designs that seek to improve the performance of composite co-cured single lap joints under static and fatigue loading, with only minor alteration to the geometry or lay-up of a base design. The minor alteration criterion was chosen in order to reduce the cost of implementing these designs in replacing existing joints or altering existing manufacturing methods. The approach consisted of two phases, denoted Phase I and II. Phase I consisted of monotonic tests for all the proposed designs as well as Finite Element Analysis of the design showing the most improvement. The objective of Phase I was to determine whether the designs would improve monotonic strength at the joint interface and identify the most effective designs. The designs tested during Phase I may be categorized as Single Nested Overlap, Half Slice, Full Slice and Transverse Layer. The preliminary tests consisted of single lap joint composites with altered and unaltered interfaces tested under uniform extension. The configurations examined include a quasi-isotropic lay-up and a unidirectional lay-up, however the designs are applicable to any lay-up. A comparison of ultimate strengths indicated that these designs offered improvement in strength. During testing, acoustic emission equipment was used to monitor damage progression as well as detect damage initiation and accumulation. The most consistent and practical design improvements were determined to be the Single Nested Overlap and Transverse Layer configurations. A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the Reference joint and the Single Nested Overlap joint was performed. FE predictions of the effectiveness of the nested overlap design support the test data through a reduction in shear stress and a reversal of peel stresses.