Experimental investigation and analysis for bearing strength behavior of composite laminates

Abstract

An investigation of joint strength in bolted connections for Carbon unitape material [0/45/-45/90]3s is presented. The simple case of bearing double shear joint is considered. In the first stage the objective of work was to test three different material configurations with three lay up sequences and further reduce to one material and one lay up sequence which yields maximum Bearing strength. Further this material with maximum bearing strength was used to study the effects of various geometrical parameters such as edge to width ratio, width to diameter ratio, hole clearance, external factors such as temperature and clamp up force on the bearing strength. The second objective of thesis was to build a 3D finite element model for the quasi-isotropic material, validate the results with the experimental results and provide a future scope to use this model for various combinations of material and parametric studies.