ANALYTICAL, NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE USE OF NANOCOMPOSITES IN STRUCTURAL LEVEL COMPONENTS

摘要

An analytical, numerical and experimental study of the failure behaviour of composite T-jointsrnunder pull-off loading is presented, including the investigation of using of carbon nanotubes inrnthe design to increase damage tolerance and failure resistance. The paper purposes the use ofrnnanocomposites at local hot spots in the structure that are susceptible to delamination as anrnalternative to traditional methods used to suppress delamination. A multiscale approach isrnadopted to determine the mechanical properties of the nanocomposite. These effective propertiesrnare then used to analyze the structural response of a T section stringer using detailed finiternelement models. The stringer is analyzed under pull-off loading assuming a predefined defect inrnthe structure. Initial damage is detected via the virtual crack closure technique implemented inrnthe finite element analysis and is assumed to be the characteristic variable to compare therndifferent behaviors. Experiments are conducted to validate the analysis method and to providernevidence that the use of nanocomposites at the structural level is effective and can bernimplemented. It can be seen that the use of nanocomposites in the manufacturing process ofrncomposite stringers will delay failure from occurring providing an alternative design solution torndelay delamination in such composite structures typically used in the aerospace industry.