A REVIEW OF INVESTIGATIONS ON STRENGTH ANALYSIS OF LAP JOINTS FOR ALUMINUM- EPOXY COMPOSITE PLATES USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD WITH EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

Abstract

Currently, composite joints have become vital since the structural properties of the composite structure are determined by its joints. Around 70% of composite structure damage occurs in the joint, thereby making the failure load and failure mode of these joints more critical to investigate. However, failure mechanisms of composite materials are rather complex due to their non-homogeneous nature composed of constituents which have significantly different properties and remain distinct in a laminates final composition. Therefore the present study reviews the parameters of the failure of bolted joints and theirby focussing towards the tensile strength of the composite single lap bolted joint.The fibre orientation of the composite sandwich plate is also taken as a matter of consideration for this study.