Experimental Testing of Composite T-Joints

Jean-Baptiste R. G. Souppez*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Composite T-joints are adhesively bonded joints between a base plate and a panel normal to it. These are crucial, yet, they remain a structural weakness of marine composite structures. A new T-joint configuration, namely, bonding ties, has recently emerged but has never been experimentally characterised. Moreover, honeycomb cores have been favoured over foam for high-performance applications, but the former remains comparatively understudied. Consequently, this paper undertakes the mechanical testing of both foam and honeycomb-cored T-joints, using four configurations: resin fillets, bonding angles, bonding angles with fillets and bonding ties. The results show that (i) peel strength is independent of the core employed; (ii) both resin fillets and bonding ties achieve the lowest peel strength, and thus, bonding ties are not recommended; (iii) for foam-cored T-joints bonding angles and bonding angles with fillets respectively yield a 42% and 96% increase in peel strength compared to resin fillets; and (iv) for honeycomb-cored T-joints, an increase in peel strength of 46% and 84% compared to resin fillets is achieved for bonding angles and bonding angles with fillets, respectively. These findings provide novel insights into the strength of composite T-joints and may inform regulatory developments, future numerical studies and the design of marine T-joints.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Marine Engineering & Technology
Early online date20 Aug 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 20 Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Data Access Statement

Data can be made available upon reasonable request.

Keywords

  • High-performance racing yacht
  • SAN foam core
  • honeycomb core
  • carbon fibre
  • mechanical testing
  • ISO 12215-5

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