Failure strength of woven glass fiber-epoxy composites pinned joints

Abstract

In this paper, mechanical behavior and damage development of pin-loaded woven glass fiber-epoxy composites have been observed numerically and experimentally. Parametric studies have been performed to evaluate the effects of joint geometry and ply orientation on the failure strength and failure mode of composite laminates with a pin-loaded hole. For this purpose, a finite element program has been developed. The failure analysis was based on Hashin and Hoffman criteria that were applied at the ply level. The results (with Hashin and Hoffman criteria) were compared to each other. To verify to the numerical predictions of mechanical behavior, a series of experiments was performed with two different material configurations ([(0/90)(3)](S) - [(+/-45)(3)](S)) and twenty different geometries. The numerical and experimental results were compared and discussed. A good agreement between experimental results and numerical predictions was obtained.