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SCHOOL S"Sk'''-?oS'E BOLTED JOINT STUDIES IN GRP by David M. Fox B.S., Chemical Engineering Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 1984 Submitted to the Department of Ocean Engineering and the Department of Matenals Science and Engineering in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degrees of Naval Engineer and Master of Science in Matenals Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology May 1994 1994 David M. Fox. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT and the U.S. Government permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document m whole or in part. DUDLEYKNOXLIBRARY NAVALPOSTGRADUATE SCHOOl, BOLTED JOINT STUDIES IN GRP by DAVID M. FOX Submitted to the Department of Ocean Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering on 6 May 1994 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degrees of Naval Engineer and Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering. ABSTRACT An experimental study was carried out to determine the bolt clampup force relaxation behavior in countersunk, single-lap bolted joints between glass/vinylester resin laminates and steel panels. Additionally, the effect of bolt clampup force relaxation on the bearing strength of such joints was studied. Specially-instrumented bolts were used to measure clampup force relaxation in ten countersunk joint specimens. A 100,000 pound capacity MTS testing machine was used to evaluate the bearing strength in tension of sixteen countersunk bolted joint specimens torqued to four different levels of initial torque, as well as four similar protruding-head bolted joint specimens (at the same levels of torque). The results of the relaxation experiments indicate that clampup force varies widely in nominally identical joints at identical torque levels, by as much as a factor of two. In countersunk bolt joints with sufficiently high initial clampup force, the clampup force relaxed in accordance with the inverse power equation proposed by Shivakumar and Crews for protruding-head bolt joints in graphite/epoxy laminates. Relaxation in the present experiments proceeded faster than in the protruding-head joints studied by Shivakumar and Crews; this is believed to have been due to the relative lack of GRP constraint provided at the surface by the countersunk bolt. The results from the bearing strength experiments suggest that clampup force has only a small beneficial effect on bearing strength in both countersunk and protruding head single-lap joints, when compared to double-lap joints. The reduced effectiveness of clampup force in increasing the bearing strength is believed to be a result of the increased joint rotation and bolt bending inherent in single-lap joints. These phenomena lead to delamination and brooming failure in the GRP, which can be avoided in double lap joints with sufficient bolt clampup force. The countersunk joints failed at a load approximately 20% lower than the protruding head joints. Thesis Advisor: Frederick J. McGarry Title: Professor of Civil Engineering and Polymer Engineering Table of Contents Abstract 2 List of Illustrations and Figures 5 List of Tables 6 Acknowledgements 7 Chapter 1. Introduction 8 1.1 Overview 8 1.2 Background 9 Theoretical Models of Bolted Joint Mechanical Behavior .... 11 Finite-Element Modelling of Bolted Joint Mechanical Behavior 17 Empirically-Derived Relaxation Predictive Equation 18 Related Work 18 Chapter 2. Experimental Procedure 20 2.1 Experimental Materials 20 Overview 20 Description of Materials 20 2.2 Experimental Set-Ups 25 Relaxation Experimental Set-Up 25 Bearing Strength Experimental Set-Up 28 Chapter 3. Experimental Results and Discussion 33 3.1 Results of the Relaxation Experiments 33 3.2 Results of the Bearing Strength Experiments 36 3.3 Discussion of Relaxation Experimental Results 39 Correlation of Initial Torque with Initial Clampup Force 39 Clampup Force Relaxation Behavior 45 3.4 Discussion of Bearing Strength Experimental Results 51 Bearing Strength Definition 51 Sequence of Events in Bearing Strength Tests 53 Effect of Clampup Force on the Failure Modes in Each of the Two Joint Types 58 Effect of Clampup Force on Bearing Strength 59 Chapter 4. Conclusions and Recommendations 63 4.1 Conclusions Concerning Relaxation Behavior 63 4.2 Conclusions Concerning Bearing Strength Behavior 64 4.3 Recommendations 67