STUDIES ON CONNECTION MODES OF SANDWICH COMPOSITE T-JOINTS

Three connection modes of sandwich composite T-joints were investigated by the experimental method． During the experiments， the failure process ， the failure modes， the maximum displacement and the ultimate load of the adhesive，adhesive ＆ stitched and adhesive ＆ bolted T-joints under vertical load were tested． In addition，effects of stitch diameter and stitch density on ultimate shear-resistant capacity were studied． The experimental results show that the root of sandwich structure represents a potential zone of weakness and it should be well considered on structure design． Adhesive ＆ bolted T-joints can obviously improve the ultimate shear-resistant capacity of sandwich structure， but it also increases the weight． Adhesive ＆ stitched T-joints can also improve the ultimate shear-resistant capacity of sandwich structure with a light weight，which has good application prospects; The influence of stitch diameter and stitch density on the shear-resistant capacity is very great，which can be further researched．