Predicting interlaminar damage behaviour of fibre-metal laminates containing adhesive joints under bending loads

Al-Azzawi, Ahmad S. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-3225, Kawashita, Luiz F. and Featherston, Carol A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7548-2882 2022. Predicting interlaminar damage behaviour of fibre-metal laminates containing adhesive joints under bending loads. Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 41 (5-6) , pp. 167-186. 10.1177/07316844211051706

Preview

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

This study includes experimental and numerical investigations on fibre-metal laminate structures containing adhesive joints under static bending loads. Experimental tests were carried out on Glare® 4B specimens manufactured in-house and containing doubler joint features. Numerical analyses were performed using Abaqus software including damage in the glass fibre reinforced polymer layers, ductile damage in the resin pockets (FM94 epoxy) and plasticity in the metal layers. A new cohesive zone model coupling friction and interfacial shear under through-thickness compressive stress has been developed to simulate delamination initiation and growth at the metal/fibre interfaces with the adhesive joint under flexural loading. This model is implemented through a user-defined VUMAT subroutine in the Abaqus/Explicit software and includes two main approaches, firstly, combining friction and interfacial shear stresses created in the interlaminar layers of the fibre-metal laminate as a result of through-thickness stresses and secondly, considering elastic-plastic damage behaviour using a new cohesive zone model based on the trapezoidal law (which provides more accurate results for the simulation of toughened epoxy matrices than the commonly used bilinear cohesive zone model). Numerical results have been validated against experimental data from 4-point bending tests and a good correlation observed with respect to both crack initiation and evolution. Delamination and shear failure were noted to be the predominant failure modes under bending stresses as expected. This is due to the higher mode-II stresses introduced during bending which cause different damage evolution behaviour to that seen for axial stresses. Finite element results revealed that both friction and shear strength parameters generated from through-thickness compression stresses have a significant effect in predicting damage in fibre-metal laminate structures under this type of loading.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	0731-6844
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 December 2021
Date of Acceptance:	16 September 2021
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 20:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/145797

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item