Experimental Investigation of Dynamically Loaded Bolted Joints in Carbon Fibre Composite Structures

This paper reports on recent experimental work to investigate the response of bolted carbon fibre composite joints and structures when subjected to constant dynamic loading rates between 0.1 m/s and 10 m/s. Single fastener joints were tested in both the bearing (shear) and pull-through (normal) loading directions. It was found that the joints exhibited only minor loading rate dependence when loaded in the pull-through direction but there was a significant change in failure mode when the joints were loaded in bearing at or above 1 m/s. Below 1 m/s loading rate the failure mode consisted of initial bolt bearing followed by bolt failure. At a loading rate of 1 m/s and above the bolt failed in a ‘tearing’ mode that absorbed significantly more energy than the low rate tests. A simple composite structure was created to investigate the effect of loading rate on a more complex joint arrangement. The structure was loaded in two different modes and at constant dynamic loading rates between 0.1 m/s and 10 m/s. For the structure investigated and the loading modes considered, only minor loading rate effects were observed, even when the dominant contribution to joint loads came from bearing. It was observed that the load realignment present in the structural tests allowed the joints to fail in a mode that was not bearing dominant, and hence the loading rate sensitivity was not expressed.