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Article history: An experimental and numerical study of the fastener pull-through failure mode in glass–fiber reinforced
Available online 2 July 2011 plastic (GFRP) laminates using both phenolic and vinylester resins is presented. It is shown that the type
of resin does not affect the mechanical response of the joint when a pull-through test is performed
Keywords: because similar values of the sub-critical initial and final failure loads are obtained. Moreover, consider-
A. Hybrid structures ing that the joint is considering to fail when the sub-critical failure load is reached, a methodology to pre-
B. Bolted joints dict the pull-through failure mode is proposed. It is observed that the main failure mechanism is the
C. Pull-through
delamination of the plies; therefore, the prediction of the sub-critical initial failure load is performed
using a three-dimensional finite element model where cohesive elements are used to simulate delamina-
tion. The predictions agree remarkably well with the experimental results.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0263-8223/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2011.06.021
240 G. Catalanotti et al. / Composite Structures 94 (2011) 239–245
loads. Different geometries, materials and lay-ups were investi- The laminates were manufactured using the technique of resin
gated. The damage onset was observed to occur at a load of infusion and they have the quasi-isotropic lay-up reported in
approximately 20–30% of the failure load, and the different failure Table 1. The mechanical properties of these laminates are reported
mechanism were identified. As mentioned in previous investiga- in Table 2 where: Ei is the Young’s modulus in i direction, mij is the
tions [8], the damaged zones show both interlaminar and intralam- Poisson’s ration in i–j directions, Gij is the shear modulus in i–j
inar matrix cracking. A three-dimensional finite element method directions, XT is the longitudinal tensile strength, XC is the longitu-
was proposed to predict the first-ply failure. dinal compressive strength, YT is the transverse tensile strength, YC
Elder et al. [11] proposed a simplified three-dimensional finite
elements model to model pull-through failure of composite lami-
nates. It was concluded that simplified models allow to obtain a
Table 1
good prediction of the pull-through failure for quasi-isotropic lam-
Orientation pattern for GF-vinylester/phenolic composite.
inates even if additional efforts are required to properly define the
cohesive parameters used in the numerical model. Ply Type of product Name Supplier
Fastener pull-through is particularly important for train struc- 14 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
tures where several hybrid connections are present: 13 90° – 600 g/m2 Roving UD 600 CHOMARAT GAZECHIM
12 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
11 90° – 600 g/m2 Roving UD 600 CHOMARAT GAZECHIM
the connection between the main frame and the floor; 10 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
the connection between the carbody shell and the top floor (in 9 0° – 1246 g/m2 UNIE 1200 SELCOM
the case of a double deck carbody shell); 8 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
the connection between the main frame and the carbody shell; 7 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
6 0° – 1246 g/m2 UNIE 1200 SELCOM
the connection between the carbody shell and the roof.
5 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
4 90° – 600 g/m2 Roving UD 600 CHOMARAT GAZECHIM
Fig. 1 represents the connection between the main frame and 3 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
the side of the carbody shell. This connection uses two different 2 ±90° – 600 g/m2 Roving UD 600 CHOMARAT GAZECHIM
materials because the internal panel cannot be toxic, while the 1 ±45° – 610 g/m2 EBX 600 SELCOM
external panel must have a good fire resistance [12]. For this rea- Isoftalic poliester gelcoat GCI S90000 VM10 SAF 1 POLYPROCESS
son, the internal panel is manufactured using phenolic resin, while
the external panel is manufactured using vinylester resin.
The aim of this paper is to experimentally study the fastener
pull-through failure mode in GFRP laminates and to propose a
Table 2
numerical technique to predict the response of a bolted joints un- Mechanical properties of GF-V and GF-P UD laminate.
der out-of-planes loads. Taking into account that in industrial
Materials GF-vinylester GF-phenolic
applications several resins are used to satisfy the current legisla-
tion (in particular about the fire behavior [12]) the study presented E1 (MPa) 42,830 35,200
E2 = E3 (MPa) 1530 3000
here concerns two different resins: phenolic and vinylester.
m12 0.35 0.35
m13 = m23 0.3 0.3
2. Experiments G12 (MPa) 2800 3400
G13 = G23 (MPa) 2800 3400
XT (MPa) 350 355
2.1. Materials
YT = ZT (MPa) 35 35
XC (MPa) 300 300
The composites investigated in this study are: YC = ZC (MPa) 30 30
ST (MPa) 10 19
SL (MPa) 22 14
Fiber glass-vinylester composite (GF-V).
q (kg/m3) 1863 1900
Fiber glass-phenolic composite (GF-P).
G. Catalanotti et al. / Composite Structures 94 (2011) 239–245 241
and one plate is rotated of 45° with respect to the other. Each test
specimen contains four additional holes at the corners where the
the other with a 10 mm diameter hole. In the following, each
fasteners are installed to connect the specimens to the test fixtures.
specimen was indicated with the denomination PT-M-D where M
In procedure B, the load is applied to the test specimen using a
indicates the material (P for phenolic and V for vinylester) and D
yoke as shown in Fig. 2. Since procedure A is more complex and
indicates the diameter in millimeters (6 or 10).
has inherent problems associated with the flexural stiffness of
the specimen to test, procedure B was used.
2.3. Derived properties
The test was conducted using an INSTRON-4208 test machine.
Fig. 3 shows the experimental set-up used. The test machine was
The load–displacement for a pull-through test is used to iden-
equipped with a 100 kN load cell. The speed of the machine (dis-
tify three important characteristics of the joints that are:
placement controlled test) was 2 mm/min. The temperature of
the room was 23 °C and the relative humidity was 50% for all the
the initial sub-critical failure load: the load at the first sub-crit-
duration of the tests.
ical failure of the specimen;
After each test the damaged specimen was examined and the
the initial sub-critical failure displacement: the displacement at
type of failure was identified.
the first sub-critical failure of the specimen;
The test results depend on Clearance Hole parameter (Cb). This
the failure load: the maximum load attained in the test.
is the diameter of the plate that it is used in procedure B of the test.
In the tests performed Cb was taken as 30 mm. The dimensions of
The specimen shows a first failure mode (generally delamina-
all test specimens, the ratio of the Clearance Hole Diameter Cb to
tion) at a relatively low load. After delamination, the specimen is
Fastener Hole Diameter d, and the ratio of the Fastener Hole
able to support increasing loads. This point is identified in the
Diameter to the thickness of the specimen (h) are reported in the
curve by a load-drop, which is followed by a decrease of the stiff-
following points. The test specimens are square plates with a
ness of the test coupon.
length of 105 mm. Three specimens were tested for each configu-
ration and for each material: one with a 6 mm diameter hole and
2.4. GF-phenolic specimens
Table 3
GF-P specimens’ dimensions.
Fig. 4. Pull-through test; load vs. displacement for GF-phenolic specimens. Fig. 5. Pull-through test; load vs. displacement for GF-vinylester specimens.
Table 4 Table 7
Pull-through test, results for PT-P-6 specimens. Pull-through test, results for PT-V-6 specimens.
Specimen In. sub-crit. Failure load In. sub-crit. Specimen In. sub-crit. Failure load In. sub-crit.
failure load (N) failure displ. failure load (N) failure displ.
(N) (mm) (N) (mm)
PT-P-6-1a 12,340 17,348 1.228 PT-V-6-1a 11,200 17,184 1.127
PT-P-6-2a 11,752 17,236 1.301 PT-V-6-2 11,404 17,624 1.315
PT-P-6-3a 12,384 17,132 1.360 PT-V-6-3 11,340 17,204 1.463
Average 12,158 17,238 1.296 Average 11,314 17,337 1.302
STDV 352 108 0.066 STDV 104 248 0.168
a
Bolt failure. a
Bolt failure.
Table 8
Table 5 Pull-through test, results for PT-V-10 specimens.
Pull-through test, results for PT-P-10 specimens.
Specimen In. sub-crit. Failure load In. sub-crit.
Specimen In. sub-crit. Failure load In. sub-crit. failure failure load (N) failure displ.
failure load (N) (N) displ. (mm) (N) (mm)
PT-P-10-1 19,140 32,460 1.462 PT-V-10-1 18,448 34,172 1.447
PT-P-10-2 18,528 32,780 1.403 PT-V-10-2 18,920 32,864 1.440
PT-P-10-3 17,976 31,608 1.492 PT-V-10-3 18,876 39,692 1.477
Average 18,548 32,282 1.452 Average 18,748 35,576 1.455
STDV 582 605 0.045 STDV 260 3624 0.020
Fig. 7 shows the failure loads of the two materials tested. As ex-
Table 6 pected, increasing the hole diameter increases both the initial sub-
GF-V specimens’ dimensions. critical failure load and the final failure load of the specimens. The
Specimen Diameter (mm) Cb/D h (mm) D/h results indicate that the two materials tested exhibit only slight
PT-V-6-1 6 5 7.00 0.857
differences in the values of the two failure loads considered.
PT-V-6-2 6 5 7.15 0.839 It should be also noted that increasing the diameter also in-
PT-V-6-3 6 5 6.80 0.882 creases the ratio between the initial sub-critical failure load to
PT-V-10-1 10 3 7.00 1.429 the ultimate failure load. This means that larger holes exhibit an
PT-V-10-2 10 3 6.70 1.493
initial sub-critical failure load that is relatively lower when
PT-V-10-3 10 3 7.20 1.389
compared to the ultimate failure load.
G. Catalanotti et al. / Composite Structures 94 (2011) 239–245 243
Specimen Fastener
The finite element model was created using Abaqus 6.8 [15].
The mesh is shown in Fig. 8. The specimen and the bolt (screw
and washers) are represented as deformable bodies, while the steel
plate used for the pull-through test is modeled as an analytical ri-
gid surface. Frictionless contact is considered between the different
parts. Fig. 9 shows the FE model as viewed from the bottom.
The test specimen, shown in Fig. 10, was modeled using 8-
nodes linear brick reduced integration elements (CRD8R) with a
typical element size of 1 mm.
Cohesive finite elements, implemented as an Abaqus Users’sub-
routines (UMAT) [15], are used to predict delamination. These
elements are used in all interfaces between plies with different fi-
ber orientation angles.
The detailed definition of the cohesive model is presented in
[16]. For the sake of completeness, the main aspects of the consti-
tutive model are outlined in the following paragraphs. Fig. 9. FE model of the pull-through test (bottom view).
244 G. Catalanotti et al. / Composite Structures 94 (2011) 239–245
Table 9
Critical values of SERR (N/mm) [18].
Fig. 10. FE model, elastic and cohesive elements (in red). (For interpretation of the
references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)
The damage activation function for general mixed-mode loading is Fig. 11. Predicted load vs. displacement curves.
defined as:
F ðD; dÞ ¼ LðDÞ d 6 0 ð3Þ
where To reduce the complexity of the model (and the time needed for the
( ) analysis) the cohesive elements were used only in the vicinity of the
Df ðk Do Þ bolt as shown in Fig. 10.
LðDÞ ¼ min ;1 ð4Þ
kðDf Do Þ The relevant parameters for the definition of the cohesive ele-
ments are obtained using experimental data previously measured
and: for a similar material [18]. The material properties used are shown
dt ¼ maxf0; max½LðDt Þg; 0 6 s 6 t; 8t P 0 ð5Þ in Table 9.
s Using these values the exponent for the B–K criterion [17] is cal-
The displacement jumps corresponding to delamination onset (Do) culated using the least-squares method as g = 1.98. The penalty
and to delamination propagation (Df) under mixed-mode condi- stiffness, k, is taken as 106 N/mm3. The interface strengths are cal-
tions are obtained using the Benzeggagh and Kenane criterion culated using the engineering solution proposed by Turon et al.
[17] for delamination propagation under mixed-mode loading, [19] resulting in so3 ¼ 28:8 MPa and sosh ¼ 48:8 MPa.
yielding [16]:
n h 3.2. Numerical results
2 2 2 i o1=2
Do ¼ Do3 þ Dosh Do3 Bg ð6Þ
Taking into account that no major differences were found be-
1 h i tween the delamination onset loads for the two materials tested,
Df ¼ o Do3 Df3 þ Dosh Dfsh Do3 Df3 Bg ð7Þ the numerical simulations are conducted only for the GF-P
D
specimens.
where g is the mixed-mode interaction parameter used in the Ben- Fig. 11 shows the load–displacement relation predicted by the
zeggagh and Kenane criterion [17] and B is a local mixed-mode ratio numerical model. The predictions for the initial sub-critical failure
defined as: load and the experimental values are reported in Table 10. A rea-
Gsh D2 sonable agreement between the numerical predictions and the
B¼ ¼ sh ð8Þ experimental data is obtained. The maximum error, 10%, is ob-
Gsh þ GI k2
tained for the PT-P-10 specimen. It is also observed that the
Do3 and Dosh are respectively the displacement jumps corresponding load-drop identified in the experiments is also captured by the
to delamination onset in mode I and in shear mode: numerical model.
so3 sosh
Do3 ¼ ; Dosh ¼ ð9Þ
k k
where so3 and sosh are the pure mode interlaminar strengths. Table 10
Df3 and Dfsh are respectively the displacement jumps correspond- Initial sub-critical failure load: experiments and predictions.
ing to delamination propagation under mode I and in shear mode: Specimens Experimental value (N) Numerical prediction (N) Error (%)
2GIc 2GIIc PT-P-6 12,158 11,922 2%
Df3 ¼ ; Dfsh ¼ ð10Þ PT-P-10 18,548 16,700 10%
so3 sosh
G. Catalanotti et al. / Composite Structures 94 (2011) 239–245 245
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