Sensitivity Study of Debonding Damage to Load-Carrying Capacity of Composite T-Joints under Tensile Loading
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper investigates the load-carrying capacity and failure mode of carbon fiber/epoxy resin T700/QY9611 composite T-joint with initial debonding damage under tensile load. The numerical results were verified by experiments. Based on the verified finite-element model, the effects of the length and location of initial debonding damage on the properties of the T-joint were further studied. It was found that the carrying capacity is closely related to the failure mode. If the initial debonding damage length is in the range of 0–5 mm, crack propagation does not involve the filling area, which is a tensile failure with a high failure load of about 20 kN. For the specimens with damage length greater than 5 mm, the shear stress causes obvious damage within the filling area, and the crack extends to the soleplate/L-rib interface, which is a mixed failure of tension and shear and the failure load decreases by 47.5%, to only around 11 kN. However, the load-carrying capacity of the T-joint is less affected by different debonding damage lengths under the same failure mode. The research results have important reference values for damage assessment and repair tolerance of composite T-joints.
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Data Availability Statement
No data, models, or code were generated or used during the study.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 12072288 and 11672248.
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 4 • July 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 30, 2022
Accepted: Jan 24, 2023
Published online: Mar 30, 2023
Published in print: Jul 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Aug 30, 2023
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