Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Department of
Date of this Version
2010
Abstract
Bonded composite-patch repair has been used to transfer load from cracked structures to the reinforcement such that subsequent crack propagation is reduced. In this study,the mechanical behavior of a single edge v-notch A17075-T6 plate repaired with 1-ply and 4-ply composite patches was investigated through the finite element method. Contour integral method was used to define and evaluate the stress intensity factors at the crack tip. The effect of the adhesive epoxy film, patch material, thickness and ply orientations on the evolution of the stress intensity factor (SIF) of the repaired structure was examined. The results indicated that the SIF of the notched plate is reduced by 1/6-1/20 as a result of the bonded composite-patch repair. The crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) is reduced even further by 80-83%. Shear strength and thickness of the adhesive bond were the largest factors in the effectiveness of patch repair.
Comments
Published in Composites: Part B 42 (2011), pp. 505-510; doi: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2010.11.014 Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. Used by permission. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb