A Numerical Study on the Mechanical Behavior of Composite Suture Joint Structure

Abstract

The mechanical strength for composite joint structure is of great importance for its application in aerospace engineering. The traditional bolt connection introduces extra stress concentration due to the drilling of hole, and will result in earlier failure of the composites structure. Based on nature suture joint mechanics, a composite suture joint is introduced to improve the loading capability of composite joint structures. In this work, finite element models for various designs of suture joint connection are developed and analyzed to study the interaction between geometric parameters (tooth angle, tooth density and complexity etc.) and structure performance. Cohesive element model is applied to model the interface failure of the suture joint. The progressive damage behavior of the suture joint structure is studied. The numerical results show the capability of this suture joint structure in reducing stress concentration factor and improving the structural damage tolerance. Through this work, we will achieve understandings of the correlation between mechanical strength, damage mechanism and suture geometries, which is of great important for the design and optimization of novel high performance composite joint structures.