Influence of Shim Layers on Progressive Failure of a Composite Component in Composite-Aluminum Bolted Joint in Aerospace Structural Assembly

The influence of varying shim layers on the progressive damage/failure of a composite component in a bolted composite-aluminum aerospace structural assembly was investigated using a non-linear three-dimensional(3 D)structural solid elements assembled model of a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer(CFRP)-aluminum single-lap joint with a titanium(Ti-6 Al-4 V)fastener and a washer generated with the commercial finite element(FE)software package,ABAQUS/Standard.A progressive failure algorithm written in Fortran code with a set of appropriate degradation rules was incorporated as a user subroutine in ABAQUS to simulate the non-linear damage behavior of the composite component in the composite-aluminum bolted aerospace structure.The assembled 3 DFE model simulated,as well as the specimen for the experimental testing consisted of a carbon-epoxy IMS-977-2 substrate,aluminum alloy 7075-T651 substrate,liquid shim(Hysol EA 9394),solid peelable fiberglass shim,a titanium fastener,and a washer.In distinction to previous investigations,the influence of shim layers(liquid shim and solid peelable fiberglass shim)inserted in-between the faying surfaces(CFRP and aluminum alloy substrates)were investigated by both numerical simulations and experimental work.The simulated model and test specimens conformed to the standard test configurations for both civil and military standards.The numerical simulations correlated well with the experimental results and it has been found that:(1)The shimming procedure as agreed upon by the aerospace industry for the resolution of assembly gaps in bolted joints for composite materials is the same for a composite-aluminum structure;liquid shim series(0.3,0.5 and 0.7 mm thicknesses)prolonged the service life of the composite component whereas a solid peelable fiberglass shim most definitely had a better influence on the 0.9 assembly gap compared with the liquid shim;(2)The shim layers considerably influenced the structural strength of the composite component by delaying its ultimate failure thereby increasing its service life;and(3)Increasing the shim layer′s thickness led to a significant corresponding effect on the stiffness but with minimal effect on the ultimate load.