Numerical simulation of the bearing failure mechanism of thin-ply metal laminates

Within this study, the influence of a local hybridisation of Thin- and Thick-Ply laminates under bearing conditions was investigated by numerical simulations. The hybridisation was carried out by substituting 90° layers with stainless steel patches locally in the area of the load introduction. The stainless steel patches or foils had the same thickness as the prepreg layers. This prevents any unintentional change or disturbance of the laminate geometries. The CompDam - Deformation Gradient Decomposition (DGD) damage model was chosen for the numerical investigations. The study results showed that a reduction in layer thickness is associated with increased bearing strength. The bearing strength improvement of hybrid specimens is significantly higher for Thin- and Thick-Ply specimens. An improvement of almost 50 % could be achieved. Fibre kinking led to final failure for all configurations. The initiation of fibre kinking occurred in the 0° layers, which has the highest compressive stress. However, it could be observed that using stainless steel patches reduces the maximum compressive stress in the middle 0° layer. Thus, the initiation of fibre kinking shifted to higher strains or stresses, resulting in a higher bearing strength.

Content

Subjects

Bolt Connection

FEM

Fibre Metal Laminates

Hybrid Composites

Thin-Ply

DDC Class

620: Engineering

660: Chemistry; Chemical Engineering