Experimental and numerical study of composite T-joints for marine application

The aim of this work was to study the behaviour of composite T-joints used in marine applications. The effect of several parameters was investigated. In particular, three configurations were studied; i.e. with adhesive and with two different over-laminations. Moreover, the joined sections were made of different materials. These joints were subjected to a tensile load in the plane of the sheet. To quantify the effect of different designs on the strength, a variance analysis was performed. Finally, a numerical model was developed using a commercial finite element code (Ansys).