Review of failure and damage models for composite bolted joints

The project “A Study of Damage Initiation and Growth in Composite Bolted Joints” is funded under the Basic Research Grants Scheme 2002, jointly administered by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology. It runs from October 2002 to September 2005. The goal of the project is to develop computational models for prediction of the initiation and growth of damage in composite bolted joints. Two approaches will be investigated. The first will be based on a stiffness reduction scheme. The second will be based on continuum damage mechanics. The two approaches will be compared against experimental data generated within the project and also from a previous EU research project, and critically assessed. In this first deliverable of the modelling part of the project, a review is presented of failure and damage models used to date for composite bolted joints. The review begins with an overview of composite bolted joint design practice, and a discussion of the different kinds of failure modes which occur. Next a discussion of various methods used to date (all using stiffness reduction schemes as opposed to continuum damage mechanics) to model damage progression in joints is given. Finally various continuum damage models which have been applied to e.g. centre-notched specimens and open-hole specimens (but not yet joints) are presented as it is planned to develop these and apply them to bolted joints in this project.