Effect of secondary bending and bolt load on damage and strength of composite single-lap interference-fit bolted structures

The single-lap interference-fit bolted joint is widely used in composite structures. In order to get an accurate prediction of bearing strength, secondary bending and bolt load effects are studied in the present research via combination of experimental and numerical methods. The joint specimens with four levels of interference-fit size (I) and bolt torque (T) were tested according to ASTM standard D5961 to evaluate the bearing behavior and joint stiffness. Meanwhile, a finite element model considering the shear nonlinearity is built to simulate the bearing strength and evolution of intralaminar damage and delamination. Results show that the bearing behavior of composite joints is more sensitive to bolt load than interference-fit size, and the optimal pattern is I = 0.4% and T = 8 N-m, which can effectively improve bearing performance and alleviate secondary bending effect. Matrix failure and fiber–matrix shear-out failure accompanied with delamination are commonly observed and localized on the bearing side of joint-holes, indicating the desired non-catastrophic failure modes.