International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org

Volume 03, Issue 09, September 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Volume 3, Issue 9, September 2014 Page 257


ABSTRACT
Naval superstructure need to be designed with confidence on the basis of modeling and failure prediction. Fig
shows a typical T-joint used in naval ships.It gives an illustration of a T-joint. It consists of a horizontal base panel,
a vertical leg panel and fillet and overlaminates.The purpose of the fillet is to provide the continuity of the load
transfer between the base panel and the leg. The overlaminate is used to enhance the capacity of the T-
joint.Reduction of weight and increasing strength of the T-joint is one of the objectives. Now a days a large amount
of research is going on with the objective to strengthen the technological basis for the large scale application of
fiber reinforced composite materials for naval vessels and structures. Fiber reinforced composites are widely used in
naval ships and aerospace, ground transport, civil infrastructure because of their high strength and stiffness, low
mass, excellent durability and ability to be formed into complex shape. Performance testing of composite sandwich
T-joints subjected to both static and dynamic loading commonly used in large panels for naval applications becomes
very important. Adhesively bonded T-joints have been extensively used in assembling sandwich structures made
from glass fiber reinforced plastic skins and a balsa wood core in naval vessels. The objective of this project is to
anylysis the behavior of composite T-joints used in marine applications due to variation of many parameters.The
advantage of adhesive bonded joints over bolted or riveted joints is that the use of fastener holes in mechanical
joints inherently results in micro and local damages to the composite laminate during their fabrication.
Keywords: - T-Joint, static, displacement
1. INTRODUCTION
During the past 20-30 years there have been a great many developments in lightweight construction.During this period
the use of aluminium alloys and fibre reinforced polymer composites in the shipbuilding industry has steadily
increased. Civilian applications include not only high speed vessels butalso significant parts of the superstructures of
large assenger ships. Military applications includemine hunters, fast patrol craft and superstructures of larger naval
ships. Recently, pioneeringlightweight solutions involving such features as adhesive bonding and novel types of
sandwichconstruction have been the focus of further research and development. Some of these developmentsare based
on innovative use of steel as well as the more usual lightweight materials. The areas ofapplication have been extended
to include more components of conventional ships, such as moveablecar decks and ramps. Generally the aims are to
improve safety and reliability in addition to savingweight and increasing efficiency of fabrication and maintenance.The
paper first introduces conventional and more advanced types of lightweight structures used in theship building industry.
Recent developments in some ongoing European research projects are thenpresented and discussed. The topics
addressed are naval applications of composites (with aspectsrelated to cost benefit assessment and survivability of naval
structures), the use of adhesive bonding insuperstructures of high-speed craft and passenger ships (in particular
material selection, design andanalysis, and application cases), and finally the application of laser-welded steel sandwich
structuresfor hoistable car decks.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
An exhaustive literature review is carried out to understand the present practices and theories testing of T-Joint
composite material. It will also help to obtain a better understanding of how the matrial property will affect on bending,
Design and Testing of Lightweight Sandwich
T- Joint of Composite Material Using FEA
And Experimental Techniques for static
bending, tensile and compression test

Mr K.V.Mahindrakar
1
, Prof. S. M. Rajmane
2
, Prof. S.T. Jagtap
3


3
ME Design Part II BIGCE, Solapur.
2, 3
Professor Mechanical Enginerring Department, Solapur.
International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 03, Issue 09, September 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Volume 3, Issue 9, September 2014 Page 258
copressin and tensile forces. Ferry Dharmawan and Rodney S [6] have discussed structural integrity and damage
tolerance of typical composite T-joints found in ships constructed from glass fiber reinforced plastic. The effect of the
geometry of the T-joint on the strain distribution has been investigated using finite element (FE) analysis. The results
showed that the critical strains were significantly affected by the joint geometry. Results of the FE analysis conducted to
investigate the effect of disband between the filler and over laminate are also reported. This showed that particular
defects led to large changes in the strains in the T-joint structure. The FE model has validated by mechanical tests on a
representative T-joint, instrumented with surface strain gauges and displacement transducers, into which a range of
defects has progressively introduced. Structures manufactured from advanced composite materials are used extensively
in many applications, including aerospace, ground transport, civil infrastructure and maritime. Composites are
commonly used because of their high strength and stiffness, low mass, excellent durability and ability to be formed into
complex shapes. Results of experiments on this new design have been reported. D.W. Zhou and L.A. Louca [1] have
presented theoretical modeling and performance characteristics of composite sandwich T-joints subjected to both static
and dynamic loading commonly used in large panels for naval applications. The results of previous experiments have
been used to validate detailed numerical models capable of simulating the damage processes observed. Parametric
studies have also been presented showing the failure modes of the T-joints to be sensitive to the core shear failure
strength of the base panel. Fabricating defects significantly reduces the strength of the T-joint with voids between the
leg panel and the fillet causing a reduction of the failure load. They have discussed the selection and characterization of
composite material with respect to their performance.
3. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
1) As shown in fig. 1 T Joints of composite materials will be manufactured.
2) The static bending, tensile and compression test is performed on a Servo hydraulic testing machine at a constant
cross- head speed.
3) Load cells and LVDT gauges will be used for measurement of load and displacement respectively.
4) Load vs. displacement curves will be plotted.
5) Failure pattern will be measured for T joint specimens.

Fig 1: A typical Composite T-joint
4. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
The commercial finite element package ANYSYS 14 will be used to analyze T-joint under bending loading.
a) T-joint model will be created using CAD software CATIA V5R15.
b) A method for a finite element (FE) parameter study will be developed using available software like ANSYS 14 and
used for selection of promising (strong) configuration of T-joint.
International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 03, Issue 09, September 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Volume 3, Issue 9, September 2014 Page 259




International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 03, Issue 09, September 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Volume 3, Issue 9, September 2014 Page 260



Fig.2 ANSYS result COMPRESSION
The results obtained in the above methodology can be summarized or compared as shown in the table below,

Fig.3 Comparison between Analytical and ANSYS result for bending force
International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 03, Issue 09, September 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Volume 3, Issue 9, September 2014 Page 261

Fig4 Comparison between Analytical and ANSYS result for compression force

Fig.5 Comparison between Analytical and ANSYS result for tensile force
5. Conclusions
As Load v/s Displacement characteristics in experiment and in FEA are closely matches, also FEA shows same failure
regions, from that we conclude that we can use FEA method for designing T-Joints. This will be very help full to check
different configurations of T-joint for naval application rather than going for experimental method consequently this
method helps to reduce lead design time drastically as well as expenses.
REFERENCES
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study of design parameters International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 31 (2011) 347356, 26 February 2011
[2] . S.W.Boyd Optimisation of steelcomposite connections for structural marine applications. Composites: Part B
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[3] JeomKeePaikaThe strength characteristics of aluminum honeycomb sandwich panelsPusan 609-735,San
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Part B 34 (2003) 509517, DK-9220 Aalborg East, Denmark 22 March 2003
[5] Dana M. Elzey A shape memory-based multifunctional structural actuator panel International Journal of Solids
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405}423GlasgowG12 8QQ, UK, 25 August 1999.
[7] G. DiBellaExperimental and numerical study of composite T-joints for marine application University of
Messina, Messina, SalitaSperone98166, Italy 7 March 2010
[8] Jean-Paul Kabche Experimental characterization of hybrid composite-to-metal bolted joints under flexural
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[9] Matthew Kampner On using corrugated skins to carry shear in sandwich beams. Composite Structures 85 (2008)
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[11] Ferry Dharmawan and Rodney S Geometry and damage effects in a composite marine T-joint Australia
Composite Structures 66 (2004) 181187, 10 June 2004.
[12] D.W. Zhou and L.A. LoucaNumerical simulation of sandwich T-joints under dynamic loading Department of
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