Abstract
An analysis of composite Pi/T-joint was performed through the comparison of a finite element simulation and experimental results obtained using digital image correlation. The finite element simulation was performed in ABAQUS using a realistically modeled adhesive layer consisting of cohesive zone elements. The composite Pi/T-joints were manufactured using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). The resulting Pi/T-joints were loaded in out-of-plane (web pull-out) until failure, during which three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) was used to measure the in-plane displacements and strains.
From the experiments, it was found that the average peak pull-out force was 12.56 ± 0.82 kN, which was 10 % less than that from the FE simulation at 13.77 kN. However, this does not give much information about whether the stress and strain distribution has been accurately predicted by the simulation. To better understand this, the experimental data obtained using DIC was compared to that from the FE simulation using image decomposition. The image decomposition process reduces the large, full-field data maps to a feature vector of 130 or so elements which can be compared much more easily. In this case, there was good agreement between the experiment and simulation, when taking into account the experimental uncertainty.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the U.S. Army and ONR under TACOM/MSU Cooperative Agreement No. W56HZV-07-2-0001 and in collaboration with US Army TARDEC. The authors are thankful to Albany Engineered Composites Inc., NH, USA, for supplying the 3D-woven Pi-preforms. EAP was the recipient of a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.
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Sebastian, C., Haq, M., Patterson, E. (2017). Analysis of a Composite Pi/T-Joint Using an FE Model and DIC. In: Cloud, G., Patterson, E., Backman, D. (eds) Joining Technologies for Composites and Dissimilar Materials, Volume 10. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42426-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42426-2_2
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