Failure analysis of multi-pin joints in glass fibre/epoxy composite laminates

The present work aims to obtain failure modes and failure loads for multi-pin joints in uni-directional glass fibre/epoxy composite laminates by finite element analysis and validating the results with the experimental work. In multi-pin joints, the effect of variation in pitch-to-diameter ratio (P/D) is also important, in addition to side width-to-diameter (S/D) and edge-to-diameter (E/D) ratios. A two-dimensional finite element model is developed using ANSYS software. Tsai-Wu failure criteria associated with material property degradation is used in the analysis to predict failure load and to differentiate failure modes. The results from experimental and finite element analysis showed that it is very important to consider the affect of E/D, S/D and P/D ratios in designing multi-pin joints. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.