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Deformation and load transfer analysis of staggered composite-steel lap

joints subjected to progressive damage

Article  in  Engineering Structures · July 2020

DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.110690

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 Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Deformation and load transfer analysis of staggered composite-steel lap T

joints subjected to progressive damage
Alaa El-Din A. El-Sisia,b, , Hesham M. El-Emamc, Hani A. Salimb, Hossam El-Din M. Sallamc
⁎

a
Department of Structural Engineering Dept., Zagazig Univ., Zagazig 44519, Egypt
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-2200, USA
c
Department of Materials Engineering, Zagazig Univ., Zagazig 44519, Egypt

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: In bolted composite connections design, staggered arrangements might offer a good area usage especially for
Bolted Joint structural elements with a small width. In this research, experimental and numerical works were employed to
Staggered study the composite-steel double lapped joints with staggered bolts arrangement under static loads. Staggered
Damage bolt arrangement was studied with different bolt diameters and numbers. The predictions of developed models
Finite element
were compared to the experimental results and a good correlation was evaluated. The experimental study shows
ANSYS
that the side distance in the staggered bolted joint has a significant influence on the maximum load due to the
out-of-plane rotation. Simulation of the experimental work shows that this out-of-plane rotation produces a
horizontal force on the direction causing early failure for the joint. A parametric study was performed to in-
vestigate the effect of bolt numbers and diameters. It was found that the number of bolts has a more significant
effect on increasing joint failure load than the bolt diameter. In all cases, the first bolt from the composite plate
side has the maximum force, therefore, the first damage happened under this bolt.
Considering the axial applied load direction as a reference direction, high perpendicular to parallel forces
ratio was evaluated on the bolts of the staggered joint. It is recommended to consider this force during the design
of the laminate. Furthermore, the staggered bolt arrangement was found to cause a significant out-of-plane
bending which is recommended to be taken into consideration.

1. Introduction connections [3–6]. Fig. 1 summarizes the modes of failure of composite

Bolted joints/connections have several advantages over the bonded
joints in composite materials, such as the ease of installation and un-
installation. In some cases, bolted joints are preferred in several com-
posite joining applications, especially for large-sized elements. Bolted
connections could be defined as the weakest point in the structural
element since creating holes produces a high value of stress con-
centration [1]. The analysis and design of fiber-reinforced polymeric
(FRP) composite bolted connections include complex procedures and
require special attention due to the anisotropic, nonhomogeneous and
visco-elastic material properties. Stacking sequence, joint geometry,
fiber directions, and bolt clamping force are some of the major para-
meters that should be considered for a reliable connection design [2].
Several research works have described the modes of failure and
factors related to the progressive damage of composite bolted
bolted joints. The tensile failure happens due to the insufficient width of
the joint and can be related to the concentration of stresses in both the
matrix and fiber materials. The reduction of the edge distance leads to
shear-out failure, which, happens due to a combination of shear and
compression damages of the matrix and fibers. This type of damage can
be avoided, in most cases, by the selection of the proper lay-up and
sufficient edge distance.
Cleavage failure can happen because of the reduction of width and
edge distances of the joint. Bearing failure can be caused due to the high
compressive stresses applied by the shank of the bolt on the inner
surface of bolt-hole and the increase in the width-to-diameter ratio (W/
D). Bolt pull-out failure happens due to the reduction of composite plate
thickness-to-diameter ratio. Bolt failure is not a common or mutual
mode of failure in composite connections. The shear-out and net-ten-
sion modes failure are the most catastrophic modes of failure, while the

Corresponding author at: Assistant Research Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA and E2641 Lafferre Hall,
⁎

Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.

E-mail addresses: elsisiae@missouri.edu (A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi), elemamh@mail.missouri.edu (H.M. El-Emam), salimh@missouri.edu (H.A. Salim),
hem_sallam@zu.edu.eg (H.E.-D.M. Sallam).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.110690
Received 12 November 2019; Received in revised form 20 March 2020; Accepted 20 April 2020
0141-0296/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al.
(a) (b) (c)
P P P P
Fig. 1. Failure modes in composite bolted joints: (a) net-tension, (b) shear-out, (c) transverse splitting, (d) cleavage, (e) bearing, and (f) pull-out.
bearing mode of failure is usually a progressive mode of failure. The
progressive modes of failure might not end up with a total loss in the
connection load-carrying capacity [6], which makes them preferable in
the design of FRP joints.
Various experimental works studied the strength and the stiffness of
the composite single and double lapped joint [7–16]. It was found that
bearing stiffness is not significantly affected by the end-distance ad-
ditionally the bearing stiffness had higher values for the small size
joints with more axial fiber reinforcement ratio [7–11]. The strength of
the joint decreased as the size of the joint was increased. Large dis-
placement behavior was found before the final failure and more energy
was dissipated [8–12]. It was found that, by raising the bolt clamping
torque, the critical W/D and edge distance to diameter (e/D) ratios
significantly increased. Furthermore, W/D ratio has a significant effect
on the initial stiffness of the single-bolt lap connection [7–9]. The ratio
e/D and the bolt prestressing torque have a minor influence on the joint
initial stiffness.
The initial damage point can be identified at the load–displacement
curve as it represents the start point of the unrecoverable bearing da-
mage and the joint stiffness reduction. It was also found that the first
peak load happened before reaching the ultimate failure load due to the
laminated plate delamination under the bolt washer. In that study, the
finite element (FE) modeling was able to predict the first peak of
loading; however, it was not able to evaluate the maximum failure load
[10–13]. The optimum geometry was achieved when width and edge
distance to diameter ratios were equal to or greater than four. The fa-
tigue strength was decreased up to 63% of the static strength as W/D
and e/D ratios increased [11–14,17]. Any increase in the clearance (C)
was found to increase the maximum strain and decrease the joint
stiffness for all tested joint configurations [6,13,14,17]. The finger
tightened bolt samples showed a relation between the joint maximum
load and the bolt-hole clearance, as the initial clamping force was
negligible [6,13,14,17]. Linear and semilinear are the two main stages
that were detected in the load–displacement graph. The bolt-hole
clearance had not a significant influence on the maximum failure load
supported by the laminated composite lapped joint [3,6,14,17]. The
maximum displacement decreased as the clearance decreased. The in-
itial failure of all tested joints was bearing failure; they exhibited a loss
in stiffness with increasing the bolt-hole clearance.
Although it is common to use staggered bolt arrangement in both
civil and mechanical engineering applications, few research works were
performed to study the load transfer and the failure of staggered bolted
composite steel joints [4,5,16,18,19]. An experimental and analytical
study was performed to study the force distribution over the bolts of
composite staggered lapped connections with symmetric bolts ar-
rangement [19]. Only one geometry was tested under static load.
Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690
(d) (e) (f)
Pull-out
P
Although the model was able to predict the strains, it was not able to
capture the nonlinear effects of this problem. Staggered open-hole
composite GFRP samples were studied experimentally [20]. The test
results showed a very complex failure mode and stress field, also, in
some cases the cracks extended from critical hole to adjacent one.
Symmetric and unsymmetric composite staggered bolt arrangements
were studied experimentally [18]. Although the linear pattern of lapped
bolted joint provides almost 65% higher strength, the staggered joint
show the greater shearing strength of 22.3% compared to a linear
pattern of bolted connections. Several staggered bolt arrangements
were studied numerically and experimentally [4]. The research focused
mainly on the linear stage of the material; a comparison between the
staggered and the linear arrangements shows that staggering arrange-
ment could lead to better distribution for the shear forces in bolts or the
bolt load.
From the previous survey, it can be seen that there is a lack in the
research that covers load transfer and the failure mechanisms of the
composite steel lap joints. The objective of this paper is to study the
load transfer of the bolts of the staggered lapped joints during the
progressive failure process. In this paper, staggered bolted joints were
studied, experimental and numerical studies were performed. Regular
one column (line) and staggered bolted joints were prepared and tested
under static loading. Quasi-isotropic laminate made from unidirectional
fiber layers was used. A numerical model was developed and validated
with the experimental results. The validated finite element model
(FEM) was used to study different parameters such as bolt number and
bolt diameter.
2. Experimental work
Four cases of lapped joint were tested to study the modes of failure
of the lap joint with staggered bolt arrangements and verify the finite
element model. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) quasi-isotropic
laminate (UNI48211) manufactured by Rockwest® was used to fabricate
the samples [21]. This laminate consists of eight unidirectional layers
with a quasi-isotropic layup of [0/+45/+90/−45]s and a total
thickness of 2.54 mm. The mechanical properties of the single-layer
were evaluated from the technical sheet and the micromechanics cal-
culations of the material, see Table 1.
The commercial available CFRP square plates were cut into rec-
tangular strips with dimensions of ‘44.45 × 304.8 mm’ (1.75″ × 12″)
for samples C2 and C3 and ‘76.20 × 304.8 mm’ (3″ × 12″) for samples
STG1 and STG2. A diamond bit was used to drill holes in both ends of
the CFRP strip which bolted to 6.35 mm (0.25″) thickness steel fixture
from both ends. The used bolt diameter (D) in this study is 6.35 mm
(0.25″). Fig. 2a to 2d show the composite plates C2, C3, STG1, and
2
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al. Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690

Table 1 of the CFRP plate holes and they connected to the MTS machine by a
Properties of UNI48211 carbon/epoxy laminate. couple of Clevis. This setup enforces the damage to start and develop at
Stiffness parameters Strength parameters the side of lower clamping stress; therefore, it was completely in-
strumented. Fig. 2e shows the experiment setup of the double lap CFRP
E1 136.65 GPa St1 2145.65 MPa joint.
E2 8.96 GPa Sc1 1123.85 MPa Although STG1 and STG2 have the same width and number of bolts,
G12 8.96 GPa St2 60 MPa
ν12 0.3 Sc2 195.57 MPa
they have different edge distances. The edge distance of STG1 and STG2
Ss12 81.35 MPa are 22.23 and 15.88 mm with e/D ratios of 3.5 and 2.5, respectively;
which can give an idea about the effect of edge distance. Samples C2
and C3 have the same bolt arrangement and edge distance with a dif-
STG2 dimensions. Finger-tightening was utilized in the testing where a ferent number of bolts. Samples C3 and STG2 have the same number of
digital torque wrench was used to identify torque corresponding to the bolts and edge distance with different bolts arrangement.
finger tightening process. The evaluated torque value was found equal Fig. 3 shows the four types of samples during the testing. The
to 300 N.mm. The used washer has a thickness of 2.45 mm (0.1″), an samples were instrumented by extensometers, in addition to the load
outer diameter of 25.4 mm (1″) and an inner diameter of 7.62 mm cell and ramp displacement LVDT of the MTS machine. A displacement
(0.3″). Bolts and washers are made of stainless steel with a Poisson’s control setup with a displacement rate of 1.27 mm/min was used. The
ratio, ν = 0.3 and elastic modulus, E = 210 GPa. extensometer measures the bolt displacement (δ) of the bolt B1 while
One side of the strip was bolted with finger-tightening torque Ramp displacement LVDT measures the total displacement (δ). Some
however for the other side 200% of the finger tightening torque value samples were instrumented by an additional LVDT, however, the result
was used to force the progressive damage to start on the first side. The was affected by the rotation of the samples; it will not be shown in this
composite CFRP strips were fastened to the steel fixture from both ends study. The load–displacement curves of the whole joint and the bolt
to avoid the crushing through the plate thickness produced from grip- displacement relations for the joints are shown in section 4.1. The
ping pressure. The steel fixtures have bolt holes with the same diameter difference between the total and the bolt displacement is that the

d)

22.22
31.75
22.22
15.9
44.45
15.9

Fig. 2. Composite plates geometry and experimental test setup; (a) C2, (b) C3, (c) STG1, (d) STG2, and (e) test setup. “Dimensions are in mm”.

3
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al.
a) b)
Fig. 3. Testing of experimental samples; (a) C2, (b) C3, (c) STG1, and (d) STG2.
aforementioned includes the longitudinal deformation of the composite
plate and the steel plates deformation while the latter is the differential
displacement between the steel and composite plate around the most
critical bolt i.e. B1. The bolt displacement results will be used to vali-
date the finite element model; They are more accurate due to the ab-
sence of Clevis deformation.
3. Numerical modeling
In this section, the problem under investigation will be discussed.
The finite element model configurations, i.e. material, element, and
contact types will be explained in detail. Both two dimensional (2D)
and three dimensional (3D) modeling were performed. Most of the
study was performed by using 2D modeling, including the modeling of
experimental work and the parametric study. The 3D simulation was
performed only for one case to show the effect of the modeling tech-
nique on the load–displacement curve and failure load.
3.1. Finite element mesh and model description
Fig. 4a shows a typical double lapped joint with two bolts arranged
in staggered used in the parametric study. It consists of three over-
lapped plates (PL1 and 2xPL2). The material of plate PL1 is always a
CFRP composite laminate while the 2xPL2 are made of steel according
to the current case study. The bolt assembly consists of the bolt, the
nuts, and the washers. The length Lg is the gripping length, which was
not considered in this study. Parameters W, P, Q, e, and s are the width,
longitudinal pitch, horizontal spacing, edge distance, and side distance
of the joint, respectively. The considered length of each plate is (2 × e
+(n-1)x P) where n is the number of bolts.
In the 2D modeling, the two steel plates (2xPL2) were merged by
assigning one plate with the double thickness (PL22). For the parametric
study, the bolts arrangements and plate geometries of 2STD, 3STG and
4STG can be found in Fig. 4b to 4d, while for the modeling of the ex-
perimental work the geometries in Figs. 2 and 3 were used.
For the parametric study, the number of bolts was ranged between
one and four; the one bolt results were used to normalize the results.
Although ANSYS 18.0 has an efficient 2D Plane strain and plane stress
elements, these elements do not support the layered media. In this
study, 3D four-node elements SHELL181 were used to model the plates
and the bolts [22]. SHELL181 is a four-noded element with six degrees
of freedom at each node: translations in the x, y, and z directions, and
4
Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690
c) d)
rotations about the x, y, and z axes. The layered thickness option for
element SHELL181 was used to simulate the laminated composite. The
shell element was constrained in the thickness direction to ensure the
2D plane condition. Edge-to-edge contact was used to simulate the in-
terface between the bolt-shank and the bolt-hole, each bolt has two
contact surfaces with PL1 and PL22 hole.
For the parametric study, the plate PL22 was constrained at the
bottom end in Y-, and X-directions. Composite plate PL1 was con-
strained at the top end in X-direction only and loaded in Y-direction
incrementally by displacement (δ). Fig. 5a shows the whole 2D finite
element model and Fig. 5b to 5d show the components of the model i.e
steel plate, bolts, and the composite plate for the parametric study 2STG
case.
To model the tested experimental specimens, only half of the joint
was modeled. One symmetric boundary condition at the center of the
composite plate was used about the XZ plane. The plate PL22 was
loaded by the circular pin found at the bottom of the plate. To get ac-
curate numerical results, a fine mesh of 20,000 elements (4 nodes
elements SHELL181) was constructed. The mesh was refined around the
circumference of the holes to have a converged solution. To identify a
suitable element size, a mesh sensitivity analysis was performed. Due to
the existence of holes and bolts, different element sizes could be found
in the same model; smaller elements around the bolts and larger size
elements at the outer edges. The total number of elements in each trial
controlled the mesh sensitivity analysis. Five different mesh trials were
performed which showed that the optimum element size around the
circumference of the bolted holes should be 1 mm. Fig. 5e and 5f show
the whole 2D finite element model for the experimental sample STG1
case.
One 3D model with two bolts was created for comparison issues,
this 3D FE model is composed of three plates (PL1 & 2 × PL2) as it is a
double lapped joint, the different dimensions of the joint are provided
in Fig. 4a. 3D twenty-node elements SOLID186 was used to model the
plates and the bolts [22]. The element is defined by 20 nodes having
three degrees of freedom per node: translations in the nodal x, y, and z
directions. The element supports plasticity, hyperelasticity, creep, stress
stiffening, large deflection, and large strain capabilities. This element
can simulate the layered domain if the option of the laminated com-
posite was activated.
In this 3D simulation, half of the double lapped joint was modeled.
Symmetric boundary conditions (BC) were assigned about XY- and YZ
-planes. PL2 was constrained at the bottom end in Z-, Y-, and X-
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al.
Fig. 4. Parametric study; (a) typical double lapped joint with two-bolts in staggered, (b) geometry of 1STG, (c) geometry of 2STG, and (d) geometry of 3STG in mm.
directions, however, PL1 was constrained at the top end in Z- and X-
directions and loaded in Y-direction incrementally by displacement
load. To get accurate numerical results, a refined mesh of 100,500
higher-order elements (Twenty-node element SOLID186) was created.
Fig. 5g shows the finite element mesh of the 3D two-bolt staggered
model.
3.2. Material model
In order to simulate the composite plate ANSYS MPDG material was
used, which is able to model the elastic orthotropic damage of com-
posite materials [23,24]. In MPDG, to meet the damage initiation cri-
terion, the degradation factor multiplied by the component of material
stiffness. This model supports 3D solid and Shell layered elements, such
as SOLID186 and SHELL181. The materials model definition consists of
two steps; the first one is the damage initiation law definition, in this
study, Hashin failure criteria were used. Material property existing in
Table 2 was used for the parametric study modeling and properties in
Table 1 were used for the modeling of the experimentally tested joints.
The second step is the damage evolution definition; the damage
evolution in MPDG depends on directional factors D1, D2, D3, and D4
all of them were set to 95%, which means that after the damage only
5% of the stiffness will remain in the material [4,24]. Von-Mised iso-
tropic hardening plasticity was used to model the steel plate. The other
joint elements such as bolts were assumed linear elastic isotropic. In
this study, it was assumed that all the damage would happen in the
composite plate and plastic deformation would happen in the steel
plate.
5
Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690
3.3. Contact properties
Surface-to-surface and edge-to-edge contact pairs were used to si-
mulate the contact between the joint parts. In 2D modeling, there are
only the perimeter edges which are considered the interfaces between
the bolt shank and the hole. ANSYS 2D contact pair consists of target
elements (TARGE172) and contact elements (CONTA169). In the 3D
modeling, contact surfaces include the interfaces between the washers
and the connection plates, the nuts and the washer, the bolt head and
the connection plates and the two plates. ANSYS 3D contact pairs
consist of target elements (TARGE170) and contact elements
(CONTA174). Coulomb model was utilized to simulate the friction, and
the coefficient of friction of 0.2 was considered [4,5,25,26]. In the
current paper, there is no clearance has been assumed between the bolt
hole and the bolt shank.
3.4. Clamping force
In the 3D modeling, a pretension element was inserted in the middle
section of the bolt shank to apply the clamping force. A bolt clamping
stress of 7.2 MPa was assumed which equivalent to the finger-tigh-
tening toque. For FEM of the experimental work, this value was in-
creased on one side to control the location of progressive failure. The
analysis was performed in two stages; in the first stage, the clamping
force is applied and the bolt is locked in the first load step, while in the
second stage the incremental tension displacement is applied.
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al. Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690

a) b) c) d)

e) Symmetric BC f) Symmetric BC g)

Fig. 5. Finite element mesh of lapped joint; (a) two bolts 2D model (2STG), (b) plate PL1, (c) bolts group, (d) plate PL2, (e) model for exp. sample C2 (f) model for exp.
sample STG1 and (g) two bolts 3D model.

Table 2 are equal to 6.5 and 12 mm with 0.2 mm thickness.

Properties of T300/1034-C carbon/epoxy laminate [17,18].
Stiffness parameters Strength parameters
4. Results and discussion

E1 146.8 GPa St1
E2 11.4 GPa Sc1
G12 6.1 GPa St1
ν12 0.3 Sc2
Ss12
3.5. Parametric study
A series of finite element models were developed in order to study
the double lapped joints. Fig. 4b to 4d shows the different lapped joint
plate PL1 or PL2 geometries. The number of bolts is ranged from one to
four bolts. Fig. 4a provides the typical details of the lapped joint
showing all its dimensions and elements. The geometric properties of
the joint are as following; The plate width W = 80 mm, the height
without the grip length L-Lg = 95, 131 and 167 mm according to the
number of bolts. The side and the edge distances s and e are equal to
24 mm. The diameters D in this study are 6, 8 and 10 mm. The thickness
of the composite plate TPL1 was equal to 2.616 mm with a symmetric
quasi-isotropic layup. The composite plate is T300/1034-C carbon/
epoxy laminate with a stacking sequence of [0/( ± 45)3/903]s [27,28],
the mechanical properties of the composite layer can be found in
Table 2. The steel plate thickness of the joint for all cases TPL2 was equal
to 2.6 mm. Fig. 5 shows the finite element mesh of the plates for dif-
ferent geometries.
Only the case of two bolts with 6 mm was studied by the three-
dimensional modeling, see Fig. 5b. In this case, the half-thickness of the
CFRP plate was modeled and a symmetric Boundary Conditions (BC)
was applied at the middle plane of the connection. The bolt head and
washer were included in the 3D modeling; the bolt head diameter is
1.5D for all connections. The washers’ internal and external diameters
1730 MPa In this section, the experimental study results will be presented. The
1370 MPa comparison between the FEM and experimental results will be per-
66.5 MPa
formed. FEM parametric study results will be analyzed and summar-
268.2 MPa
58.2 MPa ized. The different joint responses will be presented such as the max-
imum load, the stiffness, the deformation, the bolts load and the stress
distribution over joint sections.
4.1. Experimental results
In this section, the results of the experimental study will be pre-
sented and discussed. Fig. 6a shows the reaction load (P) vs. displace-
ment δ curves (P- δ Curve) for all the samples. The samples C1, C2,
STG1, and STG2 were broken at failure loads (PMax) of 34.18, 52.66,
62.39, 49.79 kN respectively. The displacements at maximum load for
all of them were 7.027, 4.899, 3.29, and 2.6 mm, respectively. The
sample STG1 gave the maximum failure load, which exceeded the case
of STG2 with about 25%, this gives an indication for the significant
effect of side distance. Increasing the side distance ratio from s/D = 2.5
in STG2 to 3.5 led to an increase in the failure load by 25%. Further-
more, it led to a significant increase in the displacement at this max-
imum load by about 50%.
During the undamaged elastic linear stage, the specimen has two
symmetric copies of the CFRP composite-steel connection in both ends.
After the linear stage, the failure starts to develop on the side of the
lower clamping force due to the lower friction resistance where the
damage is localized and developed on this site. Fig. 7 shows the failure
modes of the joints. The failure mode of sample STG1 and STG2 was
similar which can be divided into four stages as follows:
• First Crack: Bearing failure under the first bolt (B1).
6
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al. Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690

a) b)
64 75
C2
56 C3
60 STG1
48 STG2

40 45
P, kN

P, kN
32

24 30

Sample C2
16
Sample C3 15
Sample STG1
8
Sample STG2
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 2 4 6 8 10
, mm B, mm

Fig. 6. Load vs. total displacement of all the samples; (a) total displacement (δ), and (b) bolt B1 displacement (δB).

happened.
a) Fig. 6b shows the bolt extensometer reading, the load–displacement
B1 curve, and the load-bolt displacement curve has approximately the
same trend for sample C2 and C3. The P- δB curve consists of two linear
c) parts; it begins elastic with the initial slop of 31.4 kN/mm. When the
load reached the value of 12.11 kN the damage was initiated, the slop of
the second part 3.55 kN/mm. The staggered lapped joints STG1 and
B2 STG2 have a slightly different tends; the first part is linear elastic while
the second part is nonlinear (semilinear) until the peak. After the peak,
progressive softening behavior was observed in the staggered samples
which did not appear in C2 and C3. The failure of STG1 and STG2 did
b) not lead to a full loss in load carrying capacity at maximum test dis-
B1 placement.

4.2. Verification of finite element model

B2
B3
Fig. 7. Failure of composite samples; (a) C2, (b) STG1, (c) STG2.
• Bearing developed under B2 and B3.
• Shear out of material under bolt B3.
• Net-tension of the small side distance beside bolt B1.
• Out-of-plane, rotation of the joint produces horizontal forces by the
bolts and leads to the final fracture.
The rotation of staggered joints can be reduced and may be avoided
by using the same number of bolts at each column. In this study dif-
ferent number of bolts was used to study the worst case. Samples C2
and C3 are supposed to have no out-of-plane torque/rotation. The dif-
ference between them is the number of bolts that might show an effect
on the amount of load on each bolt. The failure load of the sample C3 is
52.66 kN, which exceeded the two-bolt case (C2) by 54%. The bearing
load per bolt is approximately the same about 17.0 kN/bolt in both C2
and C3. For both samples, the bearing load has initiated under the first
bolt (B1) then it happened under the next bolts. The final failure hap-
pened due to the shear out of the material under the last bolt (B2 for C2
or B3 for C3). The vertical (0°) composite layers completely separated at
the area under the bolt, while the bearing happened by the in-
clined ± 45° and horizontal 90° layers. After increasing the load, the
remaining layers were separated from one side and the final failure
In this section, the finite element results will be compared to the
experimental testing results. Fig. 8a shows a comparison between ex-
perimental and numerical results of the load-bolt displacement. It can
be observed that the finite element model was able to closely predict
both the experimental initial stiffness and maximum load (PMax), the
difference between the numerical and experimental failure load is
about + 5%.
Fig. 8b and 8c show the vertical and horizontal loads in each bolt, it
can be found that the first bolt is the most critical as it takes the
maximum share. After the initial damage, the force is redistributed and
more force begins to transfer through the next bolts. Fig. 9 shows the
failure shape of the experimental sample and the deformed shape of the
finite element model. It can be observed that the finite element model
was able to predict the rotation of the staggered lapped joint.
Table 3 lists the experimental and numerical failure load of the four
cases under investigation. All the error levels are less than 10%, the
maximum ratio was in the sample STG1 and the minimum was less than
1% in the samples STG2. It can be concluded that the finite element
model was able to predict the strength of the joints.
4.3. Parametric study results
In this section, the results of the parametric study will be discussed.
To fully qualify the results, the load will be normalized by the max-
imum load of the one bolt case i.e. P/PMax,1STG and the displacement
will be normalized by the displacement of the one bolt case at the peak
load. For the layup of UNI48211 laminate is uniformly distributed
quasi-isotropic layup while in the case of T300/1034-C there is a little
number of layers in 0° direction. The fiber-direction tension strength of

7
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al. Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690

a)
75

60

45

P, kN
30

15
STG1
FEM
0
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5 9
δB, mm

b) c)
20 7.5
B#1
B#2
16 5 B#3

12 2.5
PB, kN

H, kN

8 0

B#1
4 B#2 -2.5
B#3

0 -5
0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 3 0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 3
δB, mm δB, mm

Fig. 8. Finite element results; (a) Numerical vs experimental load bolt-displacement curves of STG1, (b) Vertical bolt force (c) Horizontal bolt force.

Table 3
Experimental and numerical failure loads (PMax).
Sample Maximum load (kN)

Exp. FEM Error (%)

C2 34.18 32.67 −4.41

C3 52.66 50.84 −3.46
STG1 62.39 65.46 4.92
STG2 49.79 51.35 3.13

Fig. 9. Comparison between the experimental and numerical deformed shapes
(STG1).
the lamina is lower by about 25% in the case of T300/1034-C with
higher elastic modulus. All these factors are responsible for the more
brittle failure that will be noticed in the parametric study results.
4.4. Strength of double lapped joint
Fig. 10a shows the normalized load–displacement (P-δ) curve for
the 6 mm bolt diameter joints, the joint was loaded by displacement
and the reaction was monitored. The normalized maximum loads for
the cases 2STG, 3STG and 4STG are 2.05, 2.67 and 3.11, respectively.
As expected, it can be found that by increasing the number of bolts
the maximum load of the joint increased; by increasing the number of
bolts from two to three bolts the load increased by 35% while by in-
creasing the number of bolts from three to four bolts the load increasing
by 17%. As the number of bolts increases, the joint length increases
which leads to both an increase in the load and deformation. This
makes the joint stiffness approximately the same for the three cases of
bolt number. After the first peak, the load dropped suddenly to about
30% due to the excessive damage of the 90° degree composite layers
around the bolt. By increasing the displacement, the joint begins to gain
more load with lower stiffness. The second peak was 78% of the first
peak and the stiffness dropped by 80%.
The results of the 3D model can be found in Fig. 10a for the case of
2STG with 6 mm bolts the normalized failure load is 1.67, which is

8
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al. Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690

a) 6 mm Bolt P
3

2.4

P, Normalized 1.8

1.2

0.6
2STG 4STG
3STG 2STG-3D
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
, Normalized

b) 8 mm c) 10 mm
3 3

2.4 2.4
P, Normalized

1.8 P, Normalized 1.8

1.2 1.2
2STG 2STG
3STG 3STG
0.6 0.6 4STG
4STG

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
, Normalized , Normalized
Fig. 10. Normalized P-δ curve of 6, 8, and 10 mm diameter bolts.

about 85% of the 2D model failure load. The reason for this difference is
that ANSYS MPDG model associates the lamina damage in the trans-
versal and out-of-plane direction with the same damage parameter,
which might cause early failure. Furthermore, 2D models are not able
to take the effect of s stress gradient under the bolt, this stress gradient
can cause early softening and damage due to the stress concentration.
For bolts diameters of 8 and 10 mm, almost the same behaviors
were observed. Fig. 10b and 10c show the load–displacement (P-δ)
curve for the 6 and 8 mm bolt diameter joints. Increasing the bolt
diameter led to increasing the joint maximum load, this appeared sig-
nificantly when the diameter was increased from 8 to 10 mm, in the
case of 3STG, the load increased by 18%. Higher bolt diameter de-
creases the bearing stress under the bolt, which causes higher failure
loads.
For the case of three bolts, the normalized failure loads were 2.925,
3.05 and 2.72 for the 6, 8 and 10 mm respectively. This shows that
increasing the number of bolts in smaller diameters is more efficient in
increasing the failure load than the bigger diameters.
the load, the next damage event happens under bolt B2 and so on. When
the material under the four bolts damages, the first ranking return again
i.e. [B1 B2 B3 B4].
Fig. 12 shows the normalized bolt horizontal (perpendicular) force
(Hbolt) vs. normalized displacement (δ) curve for the 10 mm bolt dia-
meter joint with four bolts. The joints were loaded by incremental
displacement and the horizontal force at each bolt was monitored. The
bolts B1 and B4 have positive force while the bolts B2 and B3 have a
negative force in order to achieve the equilibrium. It can be observed
that the force increased significantly after the first failure (failure of
material under first bolt B1) at a normalized displacement 1.5 and it
turn out to decrease at a normalized displacement of 1.75. The max-
imum horizontal force was found in the bolt B1 with a value of about
25% of the joint maximum vertical load PMax. This ratio is very high; it
could cause very early damage in unidirectional composite plates with a
staggered arrangement. It is recommended to use quasi-isotropic la-
minate in bolted joints especially if staggered bolts arrangement is used.

4.5. Load transferee analysis 4.6. Stress distribution on plate end at maximum load

Fig. 11a shows the bolt load–displacement (Pbolt-δ) curve for the
6 mm bolt diameter joint with four bolts, the joints displacement was
incrementally increased and the reaction at each bolt was monitored. In
the undamaged range, the ranking of bolt load values is [B1 B2 B3 B4]
in ascending, it can be found that the first bolt B1 has the maximum
share and the last bolt B2 has the minimum, see also Fig. 11b and 11c
for the 8 mm and 10 mm bolts respectively. When the damage happens
in the first bolt the arrangement becomes [B2 B3 B4 B1]. By increasing
Fig. 13 shows the tension stress distribution on the composite plate
end for 10 mm diameter bolt joints. It can be found that the distribution
is non-uniform due to the asymmetry of the joints. The maximum stress
value is located at the side at which bolt B1 is located, the bolt reaction
causes the stress to be concentrated on this side. The non-uniform
distribution causes the tension member to be subjected to out-of-plane
bending; the values of this moment are 10.62, 13.9 and 9.04 kN.m. This
value can affect the design and should be taken into consideration.

9
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al. Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690

a) 6 mm
40
B1
32 B2
B3 B1
B4

Pbolt/Pmax, %
24
B2
16 Pbolt

8 B3
B4
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
, Normalized

b) 8 mm c) 10 mm
40 40
B1 B1
B2 B2
32 32 B3
B3
B4 B4

Pbolt/Pmax, %
Pbolt/Pmax, %

24 24

16 16

8 8

0 0
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5 0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
, Normalized , Normalized

Fig. 11. Normalized Pbolt-δ curve of 6, 8 and 10 mm diameter bolts.

30 7.5
B1 σy
B2 2STG
20 B3 B1 6 3STG
B4 4STG
Distance,mm
H/PMax, %

10 B2
y/ Av1Bolt

4.5

0 B3
3
-10 B4
1.5
-20
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5 0
, Normalized 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Distance/W
Fig. 12. Normalized Hbolt- δ curve of 10 mm diameter bolt joint.
Fig. 13. Tension stress distribution on composite plate end for 8 mm diameter
4.7. Bolt-hole deformation bolt joints.

Fig. 14a shows the joint displacement δ vs the bolt hole strain (δbolt/ bolt, it will experience the higher displacement response up to failure.
D); it can be observed that at the same joint displacement loading level
the displacement of the first bolt B1 is greater than the displacement of
5. Conclusions
the other bolts. When the material begins to damage at the normalized
displacement of 1, the rates of displacement of the bolts B1 and B2
In this paper double lapped staggered bolted joints were studied,
increase twice while they decrease in Bolts B3 and B4.
experimental study and numerical modeling were performed. Regular
Fig. 14b shows the bolt load (Pbolt) vs bolt the displacement (δbolt); it
one column and staggered bolted joints samples were prepared and
can be observed that in the undamaged range all the bolts have the
tested under static loading. Quasi-isotropic laminate made from uni-
same stiffness. However, Bolt B1 has the maximum force, therefore, the
directional fiber sheets was used. It was found that increasing the edge
damage begins at the composite material underneath it which forms a
distance by 40% leads to an increase the maximum strength of the
zone of damage localization. Due to the excessive softening under the
staggered joint by 25%. The three-bolt staggered joint exhibits out-of-

10
A.E.-D.A. El-Sisi, et al.
a)
0.2
0.16 B1
B2
B3
0.12
B4
bolt/D
δbolt
0.08
0.04
0
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
, Normalized
Fig. 14. Normalized bolt displacement; (a) Total displacement vs bolt displacement, (b) bolt displacement vs bolt load percent.
plane torque should be taken into consideration. 2D and 3D finite
element models for the bolted joints were adopted. The developed
models were compared to the performed experimental data and a good
comparison was evaluated. Three-dimensional models show lower
failure strength which might happen due to one of the following reason:
• The MPDG model associates the lamina damage in the transversal
and out-of-plane direction with the same parameter which might
cause early failure.
• 2D models are not able to take the effect of bearing stress gradient
under the bolt, this stress gradient can cause early softening and
damage due to the stress concentration
A parametric study was performed by using the 2D modeling tech-
nique, the effect of bolt numbers and bolt diameters were studied.
Maximum joint load, load transferee, bolt horizontal and vertical force, and
bolt displacement were analyzed. It was found that by increasing the
number of bolts and the bolt diameter the failure load increases and in-
creasing the number of bolts is more effective than increases the bolt
diameters. The variation in the stiffness of lapped joint bolted plates caused
the first bolt B1 to have the maximum force, therefore, the bearing damage
initiates and localized under the first bolt. High horizontal to vertical force
ratio was evaluated in staggered bolted joint, it is recommended to take this
force into consideration during the design of laminate furthermore, stag-
gered bolt arrangement found to cause a significant out-of-plane bending
which is recommended to take into consideration.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Alaa El-Din A. El-Sisi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,
Validation, Writing - original draft. Hesham M. El-Emam:
Methodology, Validation, Writing - original draft. Hani A. Salim:
Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Hossam El-Din M.
Sallam: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.110690.
11
Engineering Structures 215 (2020) 110690
b)
40
B1
32
B2
B3
Pbolt/Pmax, %
24 B4
16
8
0
0 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.2
bolt/D
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