EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE CONTACT STRESSES AND RESIDUAL BEARING STRENGTH OF PIN-LOADED COMPOSITE LAMINATES

Abstract Contact stresses and residual bearing strength of pin-loaded composite laminates at different temperatures are investigated. An incremental finite element code, based on the updated Lagrangian approach, was developed for determining the contact stresses near a pin-loaded hole in composite laminates under combined thermal and mechanical loadings. Based on the progressive damage model, the quadratic strength theory combined with a proposed failure simulation are adopted for failure predictions. In the stress and strength analyses, mechanical properties of the laminates are assumed to be temperature dependent. Numerical results include the distributions of initial (thermal) as well as total contact stress around the pin-loaded hole, residual bearing strength, and failure mode for a single-fastener clearance-fit joint with an elastic pin. The bearing strain model test has been performed at elevated temperature for the verification of present calculations.