Experimental and numerical investigation of loading speed effect on the bearing strength of glass/epoxy composite joints

Abstract Polymer-matrix composites have a variety of uses in industry. However, their failure behavior is not well characterized yet. Specially, the bearing response of mechanical composite joints is very complex and needs further study. One of the important parameters influencing the bearing strength is loading speed that has not been investigated thoroughly and lacks sufficient data. In this research, effect of loading speed on bearing strength has been investigated empirically on glass-epoxy composites. Samples have been tested in different loading speeds in batches of five. The finite element model has been developed for this experiment in Abaqus. Considering that there is no specific amount to show the mechanical behavior of joint, using statistical analysis is essential. Empirical results based on ASTM D 5961 Standard have been fitted to Weibull distribution. The effect of loading rate on the probability of failure and survival have been analyzed. The results demonstrate that by increasing the loading rate, survival reliability and bearing strength increases, absorbed energy increased to a specific loading rate, then decreases and also the sigma of statistical charts is increases. In comparison between experimental results and finite element result, by increasing the loading speed the error of FE result will increase.