Failure analysis of woven kevlar fiber reinforced epoxy composites pinned joints

An investigation was performed to determine the failure mode and the failure load of mechanically fastened joints in woven kevlar epoxy composite plates. Two-dimensional finite element code is developed to predict damage initiation, progression and strength of joints. Hashin, Hoffman and Maximum Stress criteria were used in this failure analysis. Experiments were performed to find the failure load and to predict the failure mode. Parametric studies were also carried out to evaluate the effect of joint geometry on this analysis. The obtained results were compared each other and comparison showed good agreement between numerical and experimental methods.