Multi-Fastener Single-Lap Joints in Composite Structures

Multi-Fastener Single-lap Joints in Composite Structures
Johan Ekh
Department of Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering
Royal Institute of Technology
SE–100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Doctoral Thesis in Lightweight Structures

TRITA AVE: 2006-22
ISSN 1651-7660
ISBN 91-7178-396-2
Preface
The work presented in this doctoral thesis has been carried out between January
2000 and May 2006. Work between January 2000 and December 2003 was conducted
at the Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautical and Vehicle En-
gineering and the remaining part was performed on part time basis at ABB AB,
Corporate Research. A major part of the work was conducted within the framework
of BOJCAS - BOlted Joints in Composite Aircraft Structures, a RTD project par-
tially funded by the European Union under the European Commission GROWTH
programme, ’New Perspectives in Aeronautics’. All experiments were performed at
The Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). The support from these organizations
is gratefully acknowledged.
Firstly, I would like to thank my co-author Dr. Joakim Schön for his consistent
support and encouragement. His knowledge and experience in the field of composite
bolted joints have been invaluable to my research. I also want to thank Professor Dan
Zenkert for accepting the role as my supervisor during the second part of my work.
Professor Jan Bäcklund is acknowledged for accepting me as a graduate student.
Finally, I thank my fiancé Anna-Karin and our children, Oskar, Matilda and
Sofia, for their support and patience. This work would not have been completed
without their support.
Västerås, May 2006
Johan Ekh
i
Abstract
This thesis deals with composite joints. Designing such joints is more difficult than
metallic joints due to the mechanical properties of composite materials. Composites
are anisotropic and have a limited ability of yielding. The low degree of yielding
means that stress concentrations are not relieved by plastic deformation, which
is important in multi-fastener single-lap joints. The distribution of load between
the fasteners may be more uneven than in metallic joints due to that the stress
concentrations around the holes are not relieved. Single-lap joints have an eccentric
load path which generates a nonuniform bolt-hole contact pressure through the plate
thickness. This generates out-of-plane deflection of the joint, termed secondary
bending. Such nonuniform contact stress severely limits the strength of the joint.
The nonuniform contact stress distribution is affected by several factors, e.g. bolt-
hole clearance and secondary bending.
The first part of the work is devoted to investigating secondary bending, and its
effect on stresses in the joint. A novel technique to study secondary bending has been
developed and used in a parametric study. It is based on the calculation of specimen
curvature from out-of-plane deflections measured with an optical technique. It is
shown that the specimen curvature is correlated to the conventional definition of
secondary bending, which involves strain measurements on both sides of the plate.
The two most important parameters affecting specimen curvature was found to be
the overlap length and the thickness of the plates. The finite element method was
used to study the influence of secondary bending on joint strength. Secondary
bending was changed in magnitude by altering the length of the overlap region in a
two-fastener specimen. It was found that secondary bending affects the local stress
field around the fasteners and that it may change the strength and the mode of
failure.
The second part is concerned with the load distribution and prediction of joint
strength. A detailed finite element model was developed to calculate the load distri-
bution while accounting for bolt-hole clearances, bolt clamp-up, secondary bending
and friction. An experimental programme was conducted in order to validate the
finite element model by means of instrumented fasteners. Good agreement between
simulations and experiments was achieved and it was found that bolt-hole clearance
is the most important factor in terms of load distribution between the fasteners. Sen-
sitivity to this parameter was found to be large, implying that temperature changes
could affect the load distribution if member plates with different thermal expansion
properties are used.
Calculating the load distribution in structures with a large number of fasteners
is in general not feasible with detailed finite element models based on continuum
elements. A simplified, computationally effective model of a multi-fastener, single-
lap joint has been developed by means of structural finite elements. The model
accounts for bolt-hole clearances, bolt clamp-up, secondary bending and friction.
Comparisons with the detailed finite element model and experiments validated the
accuracy of the simplified model. A parametric study was conducted where it was
found that an increased stiffness mismatch between the plates generates a more
uneven load distribution, while reducing the length of the overlap region has the
opposite effect. Increasing the stiffness of a fastener shifts some of the load from
iii
the nearest fasteners to that particular fastener. An idealized optimization study
was conducted in order to minimize bearing stresses in the joint with restrictions
on the increase of joint weight and net-section stresses. Maximum bearing stress
was reduced from 220 MPa to 120 MPa while both weight and net-section stresses
decreased.
A procedure to predict bearing strength based on the results from the simpli-
fied model was developed. It was established by an experimental programme that
fiber micro-buckling is the initial failure mode. The stress state in the laminate
was determined through force and moment equilibrium, based on output from the
finite element model. An existing criterion was used to predict the fiber micro-
buckling, and thus the initial failure. Predictions were compared with experiments
which validated the method. The small computational cost required by the proce-
dure suggests that the method is applicable on large scale structures and suitable
to use in conjunction with iterative schemes such as optimization and statistical
investigations.
iv
Dissertation
This doctoral thesis contains an introduction to the research area and the following
appended papers:
Paper A
J. Ekh, J. Schön, L. G. Melin, Secondary Bending in Multi Fastener, Composite-to-
Aluminium Single Shear Lap Joints, Composites Part B, 36, (2005), 195-208.
Paper B
J. Ekh, J. Schön, Effect of Secondary Bending on Strength Prediction of Composite,
Single Shear Lap Joints, Composites Science and Technology, 65, (2005), 953-965.
Paper-C
J. Ekh, J. Schön, Load Transfer in Multirow, Single Shear, Composite-to-Aluminium
Lap Joints, Composites Science and Technology, 66, (2006), 875-885.
Paper D
J. Ekh, J. Schön, Finite Element Modeling and optimization of Load Transfer in
Multi-Fastener Joints using Structural Elements, Accepted for publication in Com-
posite Structures.
Paper E
J. Ekh, D. Zenkert, J. Schön, Prediction of Bearing Failure in Composite Single-lap
Joints, To be submitted for publication in Journal of Composite Materials.
v
Division of work between authors
Paper A
Ekh and Schön planned the experimental programme. Ekh and Melin conducted
the experiments. Ekh conducted the FE-analyses. Ekh and Schön wrote the paper.
Paper B
Ekh conducted the FE-analyses. Ekh and Schön wrote the paper.
Paper C
Ekh and Schön planned the experimental programme. Ekh conducted the experi-
ments and the FE-analyses. Ekh wrote the paper with help from Schön.
Paper D
Ekh and Schön planned the experimental programme. Ekh conducted the experi-
ments and the FE-analyses. Ekh wrote the paper with help from Schön.
Paper E
Ekh and Schön planned the experimental programme and Ekh conducted the ex-
periments. Ekh and Zenkert outlined the numerical and analytical procedure. Ekh
implemented the numerical routine and performed the analyses. Ekh wrote the
paper with help from Zenkert and Schön.
vii
Contents
Preface i
Abstract iv
Dissertation v
Division of work between authors vii
1. Introduction 1
1.1. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2. Failure in composite joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3. Stress analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4. Strength prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.5. Future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References 28
Paper A A1–A22
Paper B B1–B21
Paper C C1–C19
Paper D D1–D21
Paper E E1–E21
ix
1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Composite materials are used extensively in aircraft structures. The main driver is
their weight-saving potential, but composites also benefit from good fatigue proper-
ties and corrosion resistance. A clear trend is that composites are used increasingly
in heavily loaded primary structures. Each new generation of aircraft tends to use
thicker laminates carrying more load. The use of composites in modern aircraft is ex-
emplified by a schematic over the new commercial airliner Airbus A380 in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Major composite parts on the Airbus A380.
More than 20% of the structural weight are composites. Typical examples of
the increased use of composites in heavily loaded structures are the centre wingbox
and a part of the vertical tail plane, which are illustrated in Figure 2. The wingbox
weighs a total 8.8 tonnes, of which 5.3 tonnes are composite materials, and utilizes
composite laminates as thick as 45 mm.
A composite material is built-up from two or more constituent materials that
have different properties. Usually, a discrete component with high stiffness and
strength, termed reinforcement, is embedded in a continuous material termed matrix.
Properties of the composite are determined by the properties of the constituents,
their organization and the bonding between them. This implies that composites
can be designed to have specific properties, to meet the requirements from different
applications, by changing the above parameters.
1
(a) Centre wingbox. (b) Part of vertical tail plane.
Figure 2: Composite parts of the Airbus A380.
Several kinds of composite materials are being used. A distinction can be made
based on the geometry of the reinforcing constituent that can be either a particle
or a fiber. Fibrous composites are generally stronger and stiffer than particulate
composites and therefor frequently used in demanding applications. The fibers may
be short or long relative to other characteristic dimensions which makes the com-
posite discontinuous-fiber-reinforced or continuous-fiber-reinforced. The latter kind
of composite is fabricated by organizing fibers into a thin sheet of parallel fibers and
saturate them with a resin. The resulting tape of pre-impregnated unidirectional
fibers is called a pre-preg and is a fundamental building block in composite aircraft
materials. Composite laminates are formed by stacking the pre-pregs with different
fiber orientations, according to a specific stacking sequence or lay-up, and cure them
in an autoclave under elevated pressure and temperature. Lightweight, strong and
stiff materials suitable for aircraft design can be developed by this procedure.
A fundamental feature of composites is that they are anisotropic, i.e. material
properties are different along different directions. This applies to both elastic and in-
elastic response and is different from metals which are essentially isotropic. Aircraft
materials are often compared in terms of their specific properties, i.e. the strength-
to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios. In directions with many parallel fibers, the
specific properties of composites can be superior to those of metals. However, while
in-plane strength can be excellent, out-of-plane strength is usually relatively poor
which must be accounted for when designing composite structures.
Designing useful structures means that several parts must be joined together.
This can be done by adhesive joining, mechanical joining or hybrid joining which is
a combination of the first two techniques. The use of adhesive joints in heavily loaded
structures is often restricted by the low out-of-plane strength of the composite. A
qualitative distribution of transverse and shear stress for a typical joint is shown
2
in Figure 3. It can be seen that stress concentrations occurs at the ends of the
overlapping region, thus severe stress components are generated that coincides with
the weakest modes of the composite. Another disadvantage of adhesive joining is
that the structure can not easily be disassembled for replacing damaged parts.
Figure 3: Interlaminar stresses in an adhesive joint.
Mechanical joining, i.e. using bolts or rivets, is the most important method in
the aerospace industry. Although it is the preferred joining technique in many cases,
it is still associated with difficulties. The presence of a hole in a laminated plate
subjected to external loading introduces a disturbance in the stress field. Stress
concentrations are generated in the vicinity of the hole. Inserting a fastener into the
hole and reacting load through the contact between the fastener and the hole surface
will make the stress concentrations even more severe. Because of this, bolted joints
are weak spots in a composite structure and must be properly designed to achieve
an efficient structure.
This has prompted a significant research effort during that last few decades,
aiming at developing reliable design methods. Such design methods are imperative
in order to achieve safe structures with optimum performance. Conducted research
is either theoretical, experimental or a combination. Theoretical work usually aims
at developing models that can be used to predict joint strength. Experimental
investigations have been undertaken to clarify failure behavior of joints, or to validate
theoretical models. Comprehensive reviews of the field are given in [1–6].
The objective of the present work is twofold: First, a detailed investigation on
out-of-plane deflection of multi-fastener single-lap joints was conducted. This in-
volves development of a new measurement technique based on an optical full field
method. The implications of out-of-plane deflection on joint strength was investi-
gated. Second, a simplified technique to predict load transfer and bearing strength
in multi-fastener composite joints was developed. The method was validated by
means of an experimental programme.
The outline of this introductory part of the thesis is as follows: Some fundamental
aspects of joint strength are briefly discussed in Section 1.2. This forms a background
3
to Sections 1.3-1.4 where stresses and failure predictions are discussed, respectively.
Finally, some possible future extensions to the work presented in this thesis are
outlined in Section 1.5.
1.2. Failure in composite joints

Usage of composite materials in aircraft requires detailed knowledge about their
behavior. In particular, it is important to know the strength of the joints and
the mode in which they fail. Fundamental investigations on joint strength has
been conducted using simple test objects. Three basic types of test specimens are
illustrated in Figure 4.
(a) Pin-loaded plate. (b) Double-lap joint. (c) Single-lap joint.
Figure 4: Test specimens.
The most common specimen is the pin-loaded plate. It is characterized by the

symmetry with respect to the center of the laminate and by the absence of lateral
clamping of the laminate. Sometimes, however, lateral clamping of the composite
is provided by using a fastener instead of a pin. The two splice plates are not
considered to be part of the joint but rather of the fixture, and are usually very stiff
compared to the composite middle plate.
The double-lap joint differs from the pin-loaded plate mainly by the presence of
lateral clamping provided by the fastener. Splice plates are considered to be part
of the joint and their total strength and stiffness usually compares to those of the
middle plate. Although true symmetry does not exist, as the bolt is not symmetric
with respect to the center of the middle plate, it is often a good approximation
which is widely used in numerical work.
Single-lap joints are not symmetric with respect to the center of the joint. This
nonsymmetry causes the fastener to tilt in the hole, which implies that the bolt-
hole contact pressure becomes nonuniform through the plate thickness. A stress
4
concentration appears at the hole edge close to the shear surface of the joint. The
nonuniform forces causes the plate to bend out-of-plane which is referred to as
secondary bending (SB). Different aspects related to SB are treated in Papers A-B
in this thesis.
A typical test procedure is to clamp both ends of the specimen in an hydraulic
test machine and apply tensional displacement to one end while keeping the other
end fixed. The rate of the displacement is constant at a low value and the force is
monitored continously. The resulting load-displacement curve is usually nonlinear
for small loads. This is due to that the contact surface between the pin and the hole
edge is growing as the load increases. At some small load, the contact surface is fully
developed and the load-displacement is close to linear. A small weakening effect can
usually be noted, which can be attributed to nonlinear elastic properties, or to the
development of small micro-mechanical damages in the material. At some high load
the joint will fail. This can either be in an abrupt mode, which means that the joint
immediately becomes unable to carry load, or in a ductile mode. If ductile failure
occurs, the load-displacement curve will become increasingly nonlinear. However,
the joint may continue to carry an increasing load before final failure.
It has been found that composite joints fail in a number of different macroscopic
modes. The most frequent ones are illustrated in Figure 5. The net-section and
cleavage modes are abrupt, with a well defined failure load, whereas bearing and
shear-out usually are more ductile.
F F F F
(a) Net-section (b) Bearing (c) Shear-out (d) Cleavage
Figure 5: Macroscopic failure modes of composite joints.
In the case of ductile failure it becomes important to determine what defines

failure of the joint. Failure load can be defined as the maximum load sustained by
the joint, or as the load at which a certain hole deformation has developed. The 2%
offset bearing strength criterion is outlined in ASTM Standard D5961/D5961 M-
01 [7] and means that the joint has failed when inelastic deformation corresponding
to a certain hole elongation has occurred, as indicated in Figure 6(a).
Bearing stress, σb , and bearing strain, ǫb , are defined according to Equations 1
and 2,
F
σb = (1)
kDt
5
(δ1 + δ2 )/2
ǫb = (2)
KD
respectively, where F =load, D=diameter, t=laminate thickness, k =number of fas-
teners, K =1.0 for double-lap specimens and 2.0 for single-lap specimens and δ1 , δ2
are the displacements as measured with two extensometers over the overlap region
of the joint. However, different joints may be in quite different state of damage when
the criterion is satisfied. The criterion may also be difficult to evaluate as it is based
on the existence of a linear portion of the bearing stress-strain curve as shown in
Figure 6(a). Such a linear portion must be approximated and thus involves some
judgment of the operator.
Recently, McCarthy et. al. [8] suggested that failure has occurred at a certain
amount of reduced stiffness of the joint, as illustrated in Figure 6(b). This definition
eliminates the potential cause of error in identifying the linear portion of the load-
displacement of the curve. Note that the highly nonlinear behavior for small strains
is not related to damages and should be disregarded.
110
100 2% Ultimate Strength 600 6
90
Bearing Stiffness [GPa]

Bearing Stress [MPa]
Bearing Stress (ksi)
80 Offset Strength
70 400 4
60
50
40
30 Offset Line 200 2
20
10 Stress
Stiffness
0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Bearing Strain, % Bearing Strain, %
(a) Example of bearing stress-strain curve. (b) Example of bearing stress-strain and
stiffness-strain curves.
Figure 6: Experimental failure criteria.
An other definition that has been used is that failure has occurred at the first
peak, or the first irregularity, of the load-displacement curve.
The failure load and the transition between the failure modes are affected by
several parameters, such as laminate stacking sequence, the geometry of the joint
and properties of the fastener. The effect of laminate stacking sequence has been
investigated by several authors [9–11]. A general trend is that quasi-isotropic, or
near quasi-isotropic, laminates provide higher failure strengths and that the failure
mode is either bearing or net-section in such a laminate. Reducing the number of
angle plies, or transverse plies, in favor of longitudinal plies increases the risk of
pre-mature failure in the shear-out mode. This implies that the stacking sequence
rarely deviates much from the quasi-isotropic case.
The influence of geometrical parameters, as defined in Figure 7(a), has been
investigated [9, 11]. It was found that the width to diameter ratio (w/d) and the
edge distance to diameter ratio (e/d) influenced the failure. Going from a small value
on (w/d) to a larger value shifts the failure mode from net-section to bearing for
quasi-isotropic laminates. Maximum joint strength is achieved around the transition
6
from net-section to bearing failure which seems to occur for 2.5 < w/d < 4 for many
joints. Increasing (e/d) up to 4 shifts the failure mode from shear out to bearing
and increases the failure load. Further increase of (e/d) has limited effect.
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w
(a) Plate geometry. (b) Protruding head and countersunk fasteners.
Figure 7: Geometry of member plate and fasteners.
Fasteners can be either countersunk or protruding head and they can be finger
tightened or torqued. Examples of fasteners are illustrated in Figure 7(b). Counter-
sunk fasteners provide less bearing strength than protruding head fasteners due to
the reduced length of the cylindrical bolt shank. The presence of lateral constraint
provided by the washers stabilizes the damaged material close to the bolt, which
increases the bearing strength [10, 12–15].
Relatively few investigations have been conducted on composite, single-lap joints.
Experimental investigations in which the influence of geometry [16–19], stacking
sequence [8, 17–19], torque level [8, 16, 17], and fastener type [8, 16, 17] have been
conducted. A clear trend is that single-lap joints have a reduced bearing strength
compared to double-lap joints.
The strength of multi-fastener joints has been investigated by several workers
[19–24]. It was found that failure at a particular bolt was depending on the load
reacted by the bolt and the amount of load passing by the bolt. This is referred
to as the bearing-bypass ratio of the fastener and affects the failure as illustrated in
Figure 8. Bearing strength in tension loading is relatively insensitive to increased
bypass stress. At some point failure is shifted from bearing to net-section. Net-
section is influenced by the amount of bearing stress such that the strength increases
linearly with decreasing bearing stress. Under compressive loading, bearing strength
is depending on the amount of bypass stress. Bypass stress tends to decrease the
contact area which reduces the bearing strength. At some point, the failure mode is
shifted from bearing to net-section. This has been reported to be a gradual process.
Important results from these experimental investigations are:
1. Laminate stacking sequence should not deviate much from the quasi-isotropic
case in bolted laminates.
7
Bearing stress
Bearing
ar i ng
Be
Ne
t- S
ec
ti o
Net-Section
Compressive Tension
n
Load Load
0
Bypass stress
Figure 8: Bearing-bypass interaction.
2. The most likely failure modes are the ductile bearing and the brittle net-section
modes.
3. Single-lap joints have a reduced bearing strength due to the stress concentra-
tion generated by the nonsymmetric geometry.
Using composites in aircraft requires proper design rules. This has motivated a
large research effort to establish predictive capability of joints strength.
1.3. Stress analysis

A starting point for strength analysis is to determine the level of stress in the
material. The purpose of this section is to describe how stresses are developed
in composite joints, and introduce some existing methods to predict these stresses.
Since the number of factors affecting the stress state is large, the approach is to
start with a laminated plate and gradually increase the complexity, up to general
multi-fastener joints.
First a note regarding the concept of stress. Embedding stiff fibers in a resin
means that the material is heterogenous. This implies that the stress field is compli-
cated and may change abruptly from point to point. Large stress concentrations and
gradients can be expected at the interfaces between the fibers and the matrix. It is
not practical to account for the stress field on the length scale of individual fibers
when evaluating the performance of a composite structure. Instead, it is custom
to make a homogenization of the material, based on the macroscopic properties of
the laminate. Thus, it is assumed that either each unidirectional lamina, or the en-
tire composite laminate, is a homogenous anisotropic material with the appropriate
elastic constants.
Laminated plate
Consider a composite plate of finite dimensions as illustrated in Figure 9(a). A
longitudinal stress, σx , is applied on the ends of the plate. Due to the difference in
stiffness and Poisons ratio between the laminae, shear stresses are developed on the
8
lamina faces. Theses stresses are small and may usually be neglected some distance
away from the laminate boundaries. Free boundaries must be traction free which
implies that some shear stresses must vanish as the boundary is approached. Other
stress components must grow in order to maintain equilibrium in the plate. This is
illustrated in Figure 9(b). In regions away from boundaries, lamina stresses can be
calculated with classical lamination theory (CLT). This is a linear elastic solution
under the assumption that the stacked laminae are rigidly connected to each other.
(a) Laminated plate in uniform stress. (b) Interlaminar stresses.
Figure 9: Interlaminar stresses in a symmetric laminated plate [25].
The elastic response of the matrix material can be nonlinear. This generates a
nonlinear behavior of the lamina, mainly in shear deformation. In applications where
individual laminae are subjected to extensive shear deformation, this may have an
affect on the behavior of the laminate. A linear elastic solution for the interlaminar
stresses close to the boundaries was developed by Pipes and Pagano [25]. It was also
shown [26] that the interlaminar stresses were strongly dependent on the laminate
stacking sequence. The three-dimensional finite element method was used to study
the same problem in [27].
Plate with an open hole

If an open hole is introduced at the center of the plate, the stress state will change
drastically. Stress concentrations will occur at the hole surface in the net-section
plane. In isotropic materials the stress at the hole surface is known to be 3 times
larger than the average stress. In anisotropic materials, the stress concentration can
be even greater. The interlaminar stresses at the free boundaries discussed above
can be expected also at the boundary of the hole. The 3D stress field, including
interlaminar stresses, has been investigated by several authors, either by the finite
element method [28–33] or analytical methods [34–36].
9
The large stress gradients at free edges requires special attention when numerical
methods are used. A very fine mesh at the boundary between two plies were used
by Hu et. al. [33]. Jinping and Huizu [30] developed a special finite element that
represented the solution analytically. This element was used close to free edges were
the regular finite elements were inadequate. Regular elements were used far away
from the boundaries. A substructure technique was used by Kim and Hong [31].
High order elements were used by Nyman and Friberg [37] while an approach based
on spline approximations was used by Iarve [38].
The problem is simplified if the interlaminar stresses are excluded from the anal-
ysis. Several workers have used the method of complex functions [39] for anisotropic
plates [40] to calculate the stress field around the hole.
Pin-loaded plate
If an elastic pin inserted in the hole is used to balance the applied stress, σx , the
problem is transformed into a nonlinear contact problem. Stresses generated from
contact of two conforming bodies, such as the pin and the plate, are highly depen-
dent on the geometry of the bodies and their surface properties. An oversized hole
results in a small initial contact area that will grow as the load is increased due
to the deformation of the bodies. Radial contact stress and shear stresses, in both
the tangential and the thickness direction, will be developed. Depending on the
elastic properties, the surface friction and the loading conditions there will be slip
and no-slip regions in the contact as illustrated in Figure 10. Furthermore, bend-
ing deformation of the pin may generate a stress field that varies in the thickness
direction of the plate. Thus, the problem is three-dimensional on both a local level,
due to the interlaminar stresses, and on a global level due to the bending of the pin.
The stress field is affected by the laminate stacking sequence, the size and stiffness
of the pin, the hole-pin clearance and friction.
Figure 10: Elastic pin in an orthotropic plate [41].
Accounting for all of these parameters is difficult. In most of the published

literature, the interlaminar stresses are neglected and focus is on calculating the 2D
stress field in a pin-loaded anisotropic plate. Common approaches are based on either
the complex function method or the 2D finite element method. The complex function
method was used by de Jong [42] in an early work where he used an assumed stress
distribution from the pin, thus transforming the contact problem into a boundary
value problem. A more general analysis was conducted by Hyer et. al. [41, 43] in
which the complex function method was used for both the pin and the plate, thus
10
accounting for deformation of both parts. The contact problem was solved by means
of the collocation method where the slip and no-slip regions were identified in an
iterative process. The 2D finite element method has been used extensively for this
problem [44–51]. In most cases the analyses are straightforward and will not be
discussed further. The nonlinear stress-strain relation in shear mode of each lamina
was accounted for by Serabian [52] and Shokrieh et. al. [53, 54] in 3D analyses, and
by several authors [49, 55–59] in 2D analyses. This material behavior is known to
be specially important for angle-ply and cross-ply laminates.
Double-lap joint
A pin-loaded plate is a laboratory test specimen rather than a real joint. If two
splice plates are added, and the pin is replaced by a bolt with washers and a nut, a
realistic double-lap joint is created. The main difference from the pin-loaded plate
is that compressive stresses in the thickness direction is generated when torque is
applied to the fastener. The plates are thus pressed together which means that
some load is transferred by friction between the plates instead of by the bolt-hole
contact. The compressive stresses in the thickness direction and the friction between
the plates increase the 3D nature of the problem.
Some workers focused on calculating the interlaminar stresses while leaving out
other parameters such as friction and pin elasticity. A special composite finite
element was developed by Wong and Matthews [60] which allowed for calculations
of interlaminar stresses in laminates consisting of a few plies. More complete 3D
FE-analyses taking more parameters into account, including interlaminar stresses,
friction, pin-elasticity, clamping and clearance have also been conducted [61–64].
Single-lap joint
Single-lap joints consist of two member plates and are fundamentally different from
pin-loaded plates and double-lap joints. The nonsymmetric geometry of the joint
generates a bending moment over the fastener that must be reacted by the contact
between the fastener and the plate. This creates a pressure distribution which is
nonuniform in the thickness direction and causes an out-of-plane deflection of the
joint. This mechanism is referred to as secondary bending and is illustrated for a
multi-fastener joint in Figure 11.
A severe stress concentration appears at the shear surface of the joint. The
magnitude of this stress concentration is affected by several parameters. Clearance
will cause the bolt to tilt in the hole when the load is applied. This will initially
create a knife-edge like contact. When the load is increased, the contact surface will
grow and release the stress concentration. However, the contact surface is likely to
be smaller in a joint with clearance as illustrated in Figure 12(a). An other factor
is secondary bending. The uneven contact stress causes out-of-plane deflection of
the joint. This deflection, on the other hand, improves the alignment of the bolt
and the hole surface which will make the contact stress less uneven. Thus, the
stress concentration will be reduced if the plates can bend easily. This mechanism
is illustrated in Figure 12(b).
Furthermore, if different member plates are used there may be a stiffness mis-
match, caused by either the geometry of the plates or by their material properties,
11
M
M
z z
x F x
N
(a) Bending moment over fastener. (b) Moment reacted by uneven contact stress.
(c) Out-of-plane displacements.
Figure 11: Effects of eccentric load path in single-lap joint.
which can create different stress concentrations in the two plates.

The severe 3D nature of this problem requires that 3D methods are used even if
the interlaminar stresses are excluded. This has discouraged workers from analyzing
single-lap joints, except in a few cases. Ireman [65] and McCarthy et. al [66, 67]
conducted 3D finite element analyses of single-lap, single fastener joints. The models
included friction, clearance, clamping and both countersunk and protruding head
fasteners were analyzed in [65]. Some other authors [68–70] have presented 3D finite
element analyses of single-lap joints as part of progressive damage analyses.
Papers A-B in this thesis are devoted to investigations of SB. Experimental
studies may previously have been prevented by the difficulty in measuring SB on
composite plates. Secondary bending is defined according to,
ǫb − ǫt
SB = (3)
ǫb + ǫt
where the subscripts b and t denotes the bottom and top surfaces of the plate,
respectively. Strains are measured with strain gauges on both sides of one plate,
close to the hole. Recesses must be machined on the other plate to make room
for the gauges and for wiring. This will cause severe damage on the plate which
may affect the joint behavior. An alternative technique is developed in Paper-A.
Secondary bending is calculated from optical measurements of surface deflections.
The method allows for studies of SB without any instrumentation.
A numerical study regarding the interaction between secondary bending and
bolt-hole contact stress is conducted in Paper-B. Secondary bending is changed in a
two-bolt specimen by changing the length of the overlap region. It was found that
SB affects both the bearing and net-section stresses, and may have the potential to
influence the mode of failure.
12
No clearance Secondary bending
σ σ
Clearance
No secondary bending
σ σ
(a) Clearance (b) Secondary bending
Figure 12: Effect of clearance and secondary bending on the contact stress.
Multi-fastener joint
The stress field in a multi-fastener joint is more complex. Stresses at a particular hole
are affected by the amount of load reacted by the fastener and the amount of load
running through the plate cross section which is reacted elsewhere in the joint. These
two loads are referred to as bearing load, Pb , and bypass load, Pbp , respectively, and
are illustrated in Fig. 13. The load distribution among the fasteners is depending
on the fastener pattern, the compliance of each fastener, friction between the plates
and in particular by the clearance at each fastener. Clearance at a specific fastener
will shift some of its carried load to adjacent fasteners.
bearing
Pbp Pb PA
net − section
Figure 13: Loads acting on a plate in a multi-fastener joint.
The distribution of load among fasteners in a general multi-fastener joint is given

by the established force equilibrium when the applied external loads are balanced
by the individual bolt loads and friction between the member plates. Simple spring-
based methods have been suggested [71, 72] in which fasteners and member plates
were considered as springs in parallel and in series, respectively. Assuming force
equilibrium and displacement compatibility allowed for solving for the individual
fastener loads. These methods are 2D and neglects bolt-hole clearance, fastener
clamp-up, friction and out-of-plane deflections. Recently, a significant improvement
to the spring based methods was presented by McCarthy et. al. [73] which enabled
initial bolt-hole clearances to be accounted for.
13
Baumann [74] used structural finite elements, i.e. beams and shells, to represent
the fasteners and the plates. This approach was further refined by Oakeshott and
Matthews [75] in a study on composite double shear joints where composite shell
elements were used to model the plates. A more advanced approach was presented
by Friberg [76] in which each fastener was represented by a macro element that was
placed in square cut-outs in the structure. The macro element was built up from
shell elements, beam elements, gap elements and multiple point constraints that
represented the plates, the fastener, the fastener-hole contact and the plate-plate
contact, respectively.
The above methods, with the exception of Fribergs method, are devoted to cal-
culating the load distribution. No information about the stresses in the plates, such
as contact stresses or the interlaminar stresses, is obtained. Furthermore, important
parameters are omitted from the analyses, including clearance, friction and clamp-
ing. A range of 2D analyses, similar to the analyses conducted for pin-joints and
single fastener joints described above, have been reported. Methods are based on
the 2D finite element method [77–83] or on the method of complex functions [84–86].
Relatively few 3D analyses have been reported on multi-fastener joints. Mc-
Carthy and McCarthy [87] developed 3D FE-models based on continuum elements
and investigated the influence of bolt-hole clearance on load distribution in single-
lap joints with three fasteners arranged in a single column. Good agreement with
experiments was found. A sophisticated method capable of efficiently solving the
general 3D contact problem for joints with a large number of fasteners was developed
by Andersson [88, 89]. The complete global problem needs only to be solved once
and subsequent solutions, with modified fastener locations, can be achieved from the
global solution at significantly reduced computational cost compared to the global
solution itself. This enables the method to be used in parametric and optimization
studies which was done for a single-lap joint with 20 fasteners. Friction was not
taken into account.
The existing analysis techniques for multi-fastener joints can be summarized as
follows:
1. Analytical methods and 2D FE-methods are computationally effective and

they can account for many of the mechanisms that govern load transfer in
multi fastener joints. However, important 3D effects such as fastener clamp-
up, friction between member plates and out-of-plane deformations can not
be accounted for. Furthermore, general aircraft structures are 3D and thus
require methods that are capable of representing such geometries.
2. 3D Finite element methods based on continuum elements provide means to

model complex geometries and to take into account all relevant physical mech-
anisms that affects the load transfer. However, the models are computationally
expensive and are in general not suitable for parametric studies or for simula-
tions of large scale geometries.
3. FE-models based on 3D structural elements are computationally effective and

capable of modeling complex 3D structures. However, existing techniques con-
sistently ignore important factors such as bolt-hole clearance, fastener clamp-
up and friction.
14
It appears that a method that is computationally effective and capable of ac-
counting for all important parameters is missing. Part of the work in this thesis is
devoted to developing such a method. The approach is to develop a detailed 3D
continuum finite element model of a multi-fastener joint that is capable of account-
ing for all parameters that significantly affect the load distribution. The model is
verified by experimentally determined fastener loads. A parametric study is then
conducted in order to investigate the importance of different parameters. This work
is reported in Paper-C in this thesis.
Based on the results in Paper-C, a simplified FE-model based on structural ele-
ments is developed. Clearance, friction and fastener clamp-up is modeled by means
of special purpose connector elements. The model is verified through comparisons
with the detailed model developed in Paper-C. This work is reported in Paper-D in
this thesis.
1.4. Strength prediction

Once the stresses are calculated, they can be used in strength analysis. Thus, stresses
are evaluated with respect to some failure criterion. A large number of criteria have
been developed, usually postulating that the material will fail at a certain level of
stress or strain. Using such a criterion to determine the strength of a joint requires
that it is used in conjunction with a failure hypothesis. A simple hypothesis would
be that the joint has failed when the criterion is fulfilled at any point in the laminate.
This leads to conservative predictions for joints. More sophisticated hypotheses have
been developed, e.g. that joint failure occurs when the criterion is satisfied at certain
strategic locations or over a certain volume.
In this section, some widely used criteria and hypotheses are introduced. It is
convenient to distinguish between criteria for the laminate, the lamina, delamination
and micro-mechanical failures in the composite.
Laminate based criteria

Laminate based methods consider the laminate as a homogenous material and rely
on strength data for the laminate. Predictions of net-section failure, based on local
stress at the hole edge, has been found to be conservative. One reason for this is that
in most stress analyses the material response is assumed to be linear elastic. This
results in high stresses in stress concentrations. In the real laminate, the stresses
at the concentration is reduced by localized damage, e.g. delamination and matrix
cracking. Thus, it is likely that the stresses are overestimated. To overcome this
problem, two similar criteria were developed [90]; the point stress criterion (PSC)
and the average stress criterion (ASC). The point stress criterion postulates that
failure of the joint occurs when the tensile stress at a distance, d0 , from the hole
edge is equal to the strength of the un-notched laminate. Similarly, the average
stress criterion assumes that the laminate fails when the average tensile stress over
the distance, a0 , equals the un-notched laminate strength.
The characteristic distances, d0 and a0 , are assumed to be material parameters
and must be determined experimentally. However, there is usually a size effect that
questions this assumption. It has been found that d0 and a0 may be depending
15
on the size of the hole. A large hole means a larger volume of highly stressed
material, compared to the case of a small hole. Larger volume, in turn, implies
higher probability that the material contains a large flaw that leads to failure. This
phenomenon will affect the real strength of the laminate and thus affect d0 and a0 .
Pipes et. al. [91] proposed a relation between the hole radius and the characteristic
dimensions in order to overcome this problem. More examples of prediction methods
related to PSC can be found in [92, 93].
Another category of laminate based methods is the fracture mechanics based
approach. Waddoups et. al [94] applied linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM)
to predict strength of composite plates with an open hole. They assumed an energy-
intense region of length a to exist at the hole edge. The stress at which fracture
occurs is expressed in terms of the characteristic length a, the hole radius and the
fracture toughness of the composite. The PSC, ASC and the above LEFM approach
all depend on characteristic dimensions that must be determined experimentally.
Bäcklund [95] developed a method that only requires basic stiffness and fracture data
for the laminate. He suggested that the fictitious crack model (FCM), previously
used for failure analysis of concrete, be used to represent the development of damage
in the laminate. A fictitious crack was assumed in the high stress region where the
stresses are larger than the un-notched strength. The cohesive forces acting on the
crack surfaces depends on the crack opening and reduces to zero at some point
behind the crack tip. The distance from the hole edge to this point was assumed to
represent the length of a real crack. This enabled the modeling of crack growth and
the failure load was taken to be the load where the crack propagation turns unstable.
Several other authors have presented failure predictions of composite joints based
on fracture mechanics [96–98].
Lamina based criteria

Lamina based methods are based on strength data for the unidirectional lamina used
in the laminate. The advantage compared to laminate based methods is that once
the strength data for the lamina has been experimentally determined, failure can be
predicted for arbitrary stacking sequences. A disadvantage is that stresses need to
be calculated in each lamina, compared to the laminate based methods which only
requires stresses for the homogenized plate.
Typically, a stress (or strain) envelope in 2D or 3D is assumed to define failure
of the lamina. Lamina criteria can be used either to predict the first failure of any
lamina, so called first-ply failure, or to calculate the failure of the entire laminate,
so called last-ply failure. In the latter case, stresses are calculated in all laminae
and the criterion is applied for each lamina. Laminae that fails are excluded from
the analysis and a new stress state is calculated. This process is repeated until all
laminae have failed.
The Tsai-Wu criterion [99] assumes the existence of a failure surface, f (σk ), in
the three dimensional stress space that can be expressed as
f (σk ) = Fi σi + Fij σi σj = 1 (4)
where σi are components of the stress tensor, Fi and Fij are strength tensors,
i, j, k = 1 . . . 6 and the Einstein summation convention is used. It is assumed that
16
the strength tensors, Fi and Fij , are symmetric in accordance with the stress tensor,
and the elastic compliance tensor, which implies that the number of independent
entries in the tensors are 6 and 21, respectively, for a general anisotropic material.
Further symmetry in the material reduces the number of entries in the strength ten-
sors in analogy with the reduction of entries in the compliance matrix. All non-zero
entries must be determined through a series of uni-axial and bi-axial tests. The
linear terms, Fi , implies that the different strengths in tension and compression of
a composite is accounted for. The quadratic terms, Fij , defines an elliptic failure
surface in the stress space where the sensitivity to multi-axial stresses is captured
when i 6= j. Similar criteria were developed by several authors [2]. Most of them
are simpler and requires fewer material parameters. The criterion developed by
Hoffman [100] has been used in many studies to predict strength of joints.
A simpler, in-plane quadratic criterion, suggested by Yamada and Sun [101] has
been used extensively for bolted joints. It involves only two material parameters
and is defined according to
2 2
σ1 τ12
+ =1 (5)
X S12
where X and S12 are the longitudinal ply strength and the ply shear strength,
respectively. The absence of linear terms implies that the material is assumed to
have equal strength in tension and compression.
Maximum stress, Maximum strain and the Distortional energy criteria were used
by Waszczak and Cruse [102] in an early study. Each criterion was used with the
simple hypothesis that a pin-joint would fail when the criterion was satisfied in the
vicinity of the hole. This proved to be conservative in most cases.
Soni [103] used the Hoffman criterion [100] in conjunction with a more advanced
failure hypothesis. The 2D stress components from the stress analysis were used in
the criterion to calculate the maximum average bearing stress that could be carried
by each lamina. The lamina capable of sustaining the highest stress was considered
to be the strongest lamina. Ultimate failure of the joint was assumed to occur
when the strongest lamina failed. Laminae failing prior to ultimate failure were not
removed from the analysis, i.e. no stiffness reduction of the laminate due to localized
damage was accounted for. This method still proved to be conservative.
Improved accuracy was achieved in a method suggested by Chang, Scott and
Springer [11]. The Yamada-Sun criterion [101] was used with a failure hypothesis
that can be considered as an extension of the laminate based point stress criterion. A
characteristic curve was constructed from R0t and R0c which denotes characteristic
length in the net-section and bearing plane, respectively. Thus R0t is identical to d0
that was used in [90]. Such a curve is illustrated in Figure 14. The failure criterion
is evaluated along the characteristic curve and the joint was considered to fail when
the criterion was satisfied for any lamina, i.e. it is a first-ply failure prediction. The
location on the curve where failure was predicted determines the failure mode to be
respectively, bearing, shear-out and net-section according to
−15◦ 6 θ 6 15◦
30◦ 6 θ 6 60◦
75◦ 6 θ 6 90◦ .
17
Figure 14: Characteristic curve [11].
This method provided accurate predictions despite the fact that a lamina based
failure criterion was used with laminate based characteristic dimensions that are
obtained in uni-axial testing. The combination of the proposed characteristic curve
and the Yamada-Sun criterion has been used in subsequent analyses [104–109].
The Hoffman criterion was used by DiNicola and Fantle [110] in conjunction with
a characteristic distance, df e , similar to R0c on the characteristic curve discussed
above, to predict bearing failure in a pin-joint. It was proposed that df e be dependent
on hole size and stacking sequence which resulted in accurate predictions.
Delamination criteria
A criterion for delamination onset in composites was formulated by Ye [111]. He
suggested that delamination is controlled by the interlaminar stress state, regardless
of the nature of the external loading, and proposed the following criterion,
σ 2 2 2
33 τ13 τ23
+ + =1 σ33 > 0 (6)
Z S13 S23
2 2
τ13 τ23
+ =1 σ33 < 0 (7)
S13 S23
where Z is the transverse tensile strength and Sij are the corresponding shear
strengths. The stresses in Eq. 6 are defined as average stresses over a distance c
from the free edge. Ye suggested c to be equal to the thickness of two plies. This
criterion has been used by several authors [62–64] to predict delamination in joints.
Micro-mechanics based criteria

Failure in composite materials is characterized by accumulated damage in several
micro-mechanical failure modes, such as fiber and matrix fracture, fiber pull-out,
matrix micro-cracks and fiber-matrix debonding. Laminate and lamina based fail-
ure theories are extensions of theories developed for isotropic metals. Therefore
18
they are not closely related to the actual physical mechanisms occurring in the ma-
terial. They all have in common that they predict the complete failure of the entire
laminate or lamina. No distinction is made between the different micro-mechanical
failure modes, and the laminate or lamina is typically assumed to have zero stiffness
after failure. An approach closer related to the actual physics involved, is to pre-
dict the micro-mechanical mode of failure and change the macroscopic properties of
the lamina based on this prediction. Such progressive damage analyses have been
conducted by several authors [12, 14, 53, 55–59, 69, 70, 112–115].
A widely used set of criteria for tensile and compressive failure of both the matrix
and the fibers was formulated by Hashin [116]. The steps required in a progressive
damage analysis are illustrated in Figure 15.
Start
Stress analysis
Failure analysis
No Check for
Increase
ply
Load
failures
Yes
Degradation of material
properties on failed plies
No Check for
final
failure
Yes
Stop
Figure 15: Flow of a progressive damage analysis. Redrawn from [70].
19
Progressive damage analyses are important in order to understand the failure
process and to calculate the maximum load capacity of a joint under an overload
situation. However, such analyses are complicated and computationally expensive.
From a design point of view it is also important to maximize the load capacity of
the joint with respect to the introduction of damages. Thus it becomes important
to know what is the initial mode of failure and how can it be predicted. This is
particularly so for the macroscopic bearing mode. It is well known that damages
may be introduced well before the ultimate failure of the joint.
Bearing failure [10,117,118] is developed by the compressive forces acting between
the fastener and the hole surface. It is a crushing mode which involves several micro-
mechanical failure modes, usually starting with matrix cracking followed by buckling
of destabilized fibers. This buckling starts in the 0◦ -plies, in the bearing plane, due
to their great stiffness in the loading direction. As loading continues to increase,
delamination starts to occur and kink bands of buckled fibers are formed, as shown
in Figure 16.
(a) Joint loaded to 23 kN. (b) Close-up of kink band in a 0◦ -ply.
Figure 16: Formation of kink bands in the bearing plane.
These kink bands eventually lead to shear cracks progressing through all plies,
from the center of the laminate towards the surface, at a 45◦ angle. If the cracks
reach the surface under the washer, it means that the damaged material is stabilized
by the clamping pressure from the washers. This may enable the joint to carry
more load. Eventually, a second set of shear cracks are formed at the center of the
laminate outside the first set. The new cracks will reach the laminate surface outside
the washer and cause ultimate failure of the joint. This stage-by-stage formation
of shear cracks is typical for joints [10] and is illustrated for a double-lap joint in
Figure 17.
Several workers have suggested criteria for fiber micro-buckling. A 2D-model
of fibers embedded in a matrix was developed by Rosen [119], where the fibers are
assumed to buckle in the elastic foundation at the critical compressive stress, σc ,
according to
Gm
σc = =G (8)
1 − vf
where vf the fiber volume fraction, Gm is the shear modulus of the matrix and G
is the shear modulus of the lamina. Rosen found that the model overestimates the
20
(a) Joint loaded to 26 kN. (b) Joint loaded to 29 kN.
Figure 17: Bearing damages in double lap specimens subjected to different levels of ten-
sion loading.
φ0 + φ
σ
σ
Figure 18: Definitions of angles and stresses.
compressive strength for many materials. This can be attributed to the assumptions
that the fibers are perfectly aligned in the loading direction and that the matrix
material is linear elastic. In reality, a large number of fibers are misaligned and
strains in the matrix material exceeds the yield limit which implies that the plastic
response is important.
Argon [120] developed an expression for compressive strength according to,
τy
σc = (9)
φ0
where τy is the plastic shear strength of the composite and φ0 is the original angle
of misalignment of the fibers. It was recognized that when the compressive stress
exceeded σc , a local instability in the form of a shear collapse band, or kink band, de-
veloped. This expression considers plastic micro-buckling of the fibers as it involves
the plastic shear strength instead of the elastic shear modulus of the matrix.
Budiansky [121] generalized Eq. 9 in order to take into account the angle, β, at
which the kink band is inclined with the fiber direction, see Fig. 18, according to
τy /G
σc = (G + Ezz tan2 β) (10)
φ0 + τy /G
where Ezz is the transverse modulus of elasticity.

Further generalization was provided by Slaughter et. al. [122] such that a multi-
21
axial stress state was accounted for according to
ατy − τxz − σzz tan β

σc = (11)
φ0 + φ
s 2
σzzy

α= 1+ tan2 β (12)
τy
where σzzy is the transverse yield strength and φ is the additional rotation of fibers
within the kink band.
This micro-buckling criterion is 2D in the sense that the width of the material
is not accounted for. To the best of the authors knowledge, it has not been used to
predict strength of bolted joints. In Paper-E in this thesis, the criterion is used in
conjunction with a simple FE-model and a failure hypothesis to predict strength of
a multi-fastener single-lap joint. The FE-model is based on structural elements and
calculates the load distribution while accounting for clearances, clamping, friction
and secondary bending. Bolt-hole contact stresses are obtained from simple force
and moment equilibrium equations, and assumptions regarding the stress distribu-
tion in the thickness and circumferential directions. The failure hypothesis is that
the joint has failed when the criterion is fulfilled in the most highly stressed lamina,
in the joint bearing plane, of the most heavily loaded fastener. This is assumed to
correspond to the first irregularity in experimental load-displacement curves.
1.5. Future work

The use of composite materials in aircraft is steadily growing. Still, the full weight-
saving potential of such materials may not be reached due to suboptimal design of
the joints. There is a constant need for improved design methods, both on a global
level and on a local level.
On the global level, joints are limiting factors of the entire structure. The behav-
ior of the joints should be accounted for as early as possible in the design process.
Finding optimum bolt patterns is vital to the final performance of the structure.
This requires effective, accurate predictions of load distribution and strength in
large scale structures with many bolts. The ability to use such predictions in opti-
mization routines may improve the overall design. Statistical analyses of “missing
bolt” or “worst case clearance” scenarios may increase the ability to design fail safe
structures. A starting point for such a method is presented in Papers D-E in this
thesis. For industrial use, the method should be extended to use shell elements to
represent the plates, to enable modeling of complicated structures. Further exten-
sions could be to use a more sophisticated procedure to calculate the stresses, based
on the forces and moments calculated in the FE-model, and to apply several failure
criteria to predict other modes of failure.
On the local level, strength prediction of critical fasteners remains an issue. De-
spite large efforts in this field, accurate and fully reliable methods are not available.
This results in conservative designs with a weight penalty. While semi-empirical
methods and laminate- and lamina based methods continues to play important roles
22
in todays design procedure, methods based on micro-mechanical mechanisms seem
more promising in terms of improved accuracy in predictions. This should be re-
flected in future research activities within this field.
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28

Multi-Fastener Single-Lap Joints in Composite Structures

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Multi-Fastener Single-lap Joints in Composite Structures

Doctoral Thesis in Lightweight Structures

Västerås, May 2006

Division of work between authors vii

Figure 1: Major composite parts on the Airbus A380.

Figure 2: Composite parts of the Airbus A380.

Figure 3: Interlaminar stresses in an adhesive joint.

1.2. Failure in composite joints

(a) Pin-loaded plate. (b) Double-lap joint. (c) Single-lap joint.

Figure 4: Test specimens.

The most common specimen is the pin-loaded plate. It is characterized by the

(a) Net-section (b) Bearing (c) Shear-out (d) Cleavage

Figure 5: Macroscopic failure modes of composite joints.

In the case of ductile failure it becomes important to determine what defines

Bearing Stiffness [GPa]

Figure 6: Experimental failure criteria.

(a) Plate geometry. (b) Protruding head and countersunk fasteners.

Figure 7: Geometry of member plate and fasteners.

Figure 8: Bearing-bypass interaction.

1.3. Stress analysis

(a) Laminated plate in uniform stress. (b) Interlaminar stresses.

Figure 9: Interlaminar stresses in a symmetric laminated plate [25].

Plate with an open hole

Figure 10: Elastic pin in an orthotropic plate [41].

Accounting for all of these parameters is difficult. In most of the published

(c) Out-of-plane displacements.

Figure 11: Effects of eccentric load path in single-lap joint.

which can create different stress concentrations in the two plates.

(a) Clearance (b) Secondary bending

Figure 13: Loads acting on a plate in a multi-fastener joint.

The distribution of load among fasteners in a general multi-fastener joint is given

1. Analytical methods and 2D FE-methods are computationally effective and

2. 3D Finite element methods based on continuum elements provide means to

3. FE-models based on 3D structural elements are computationally effective and

1.4. Strength prediction

Laminate based criteria

Lamina based criteria

f (σk ) = Fi σi + Fij σi σj = 1 (4)

Micro-mechanics based criteria

Figure 15: Flow of a progressive damage analysis. Redrawn from [70].

(a) Joint loaded to 23 kN. (b) Close-up of kink band in a 0◦ -ply.

Figure 16: Formation of kink bands in the bearing plane.

Figure 18: Definitions of angles and stresses.

where Ezz is the transverse modulus of elasticity.

ατy − τxz − σzz tan β

1.5. Future work

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