Yong-Bin Park

Experimental and numerical study on the failure of sandwich T-joints under pull-off loading

In this study, the failure mechanism of sandwich-to-laminate T-joints under pull-off loading was investigated by experiment and the finite element method. A total of 26 T-joint specimens were manufactured and tested in order to investigate the effects of both adhesive thickness (0.4, 2.0, and 4.0 ㎜) and environmental conditions on the failure of the joints. The results showed that failure occurred mainly as intralaminar failure in the first layer of the sandwich face, which was contacted to the paste adhesive. The failure load did not significantly change with increasing adhesive thickness in both RTD (Room Temperature and Dry) and ETW (Elevated Temperature and Wet) conditions. In the case of ETW conditions, however, the failure load increased slightly with an increase in adhesive thickness. The joints tested in ETW conditions had higher failure loads than those tested in RTD conditions. In addition to the experiment, a finite element analysis was also conducted to investigate the failure of the joint. The stress inside the first ply of the sandwich face was of interest because during the experiment, failure always occurred there. The analysis results showed good agreement with the trend of experimental results, except for the case of the smallest adhesive thickness. The highest stress was predicted in the regions where initial failure was observed in the experiment. The maximum stress was almost constant when the adhesive thickness was beyond 2 ㎜.

Structural Analysis of a Composite Target-drone

A finite element analysis for the wing and landing gear of a composite target-drone air vehicle was performed. For the wing analysis, two load cases were considered: a 5g symmetric pull-up and a -1.5g symmetric push-over. For the landing gear analysis, a sinking velocity of 1.4 m/s at a 2g level landing condition was taken into account. MSC/NASTRAN and LS-DYNA were utilized for the static and dynamic analyses, respectively. Finite element results were verified by the static test of a prototype wing under a 6g symmetric pull-up condition. The test showed a 17% larger wing tip deflection than the finite element analysis. This difference is believed to come from the material and geometrical imperfections incurred during the manufacturing process.

A Numerical Study of the High-Velocity Impact Response of a Composite Laminate Using LS-DYNA

The failure of a Kevlar29/Phenolic composite plate under high-velocity impact from an fragment simulation projectile was investigated using the nonlinear explicit finite element code, LS-DYNA. The composite laminate and the impactor were idealized by solid elements, and the interface between the laminas was modeled as a tiebreak type in LS-DYNA. The interaction between the impactor and laminate was simulated using a surface-to-surface eroding contact algorithm. When the stress level meets the given failure criteria, the layer in the element is eroded. Numerical results were verified through existing test results and showed good agreement.

A study on the failure mode and load of the composite key joint

The joining of composite materials has traditionally been achieved by adhesive bonding or mechanical fastening. Mechanical fastenings require little or no surface preparation, and are easy to inspect for joint quality. However, they require machining of holes that interrupt the fiber continuity and may reduce the strength of the adherend. We proposed the new composite key joint to minimize the fiber discontinuity and strength degradation of adherend. Mechanical key joints with three different d/t (slot depth to thickness) ratios and two different e/w (edge length to width) ratios were manufactured and tested. Carbon-epoxy unidirectional prepreg (USN125) and plain weave prepreg (HPW193) were used for the composite key joints. Tensile tests were performed on the composite key joints and their failure modes were evaluated. Finite element analyses for the mechanical key joints were performed and the stresses around the key slot were calculated. From the tests, it could be concluded that the failure load of the key joints was about two times larger than those of a mechanical joint for the investigated composite joints.

Characterization of composite material properties using eigenstrain method

A technique to solve the periodic homogenization problem is described systematically in this work. The method is to solve the cell problems by imposing eigenstrains in terms of thermal or piezoelectric strain to the representative volume element. Homogenized coefficients are then calculated from stress solutions of those cell problems. Benefit of the proposed technique is that it is readily applicable for common finite element softwares regardless of using user subroutines. Several numerical examples are examined. The obtained results show good agreements with the published data.

Effect of joining methods on the failure of aluminum honeycomb sandwich joints under shear loading

An experimental study on the failure of aluminum sandwich joints under shear loading was conducted. A total of 60 specimens including three different insert types and two different potting types were fabricated and tested. The test results showed that the through-clearance type of joint fails at the highest load among insert type joints. The failure load of the potted joints with the dimple washer increased by 10% compared to the simple potted joints. As expected, the shear failure load became higher in accordance with the face thickness increase. It was also found that the upper face in contact with the loading tool is more dominant over the failure load.