Analysis of composite T-joint designs for enhanced resistance to hydrodynamic ram

This study is concerned with the feasibility of different T-joint designs for application in aircraft composite fuel tanks which may be subjected to hydrodynamic ram loading. In a first step, the response of a hybrid metallic/composite T-joint is compared against a state-of-the-art composite T-joint. In a second step, two different resin systems are compared using a third T-joint design - one state-of-the-art aerospace resin and one novel, toughened system. Experimental work is done under both, quasi-static and under high-rate loading conditions. The hybrid metallic/composite T-joint showed superior post-failure behavior compared to the state-of-the-art composite T-joint. The use of the toughened resin system results in a significant increase of joint strength. The post-failure behavior is however not affected by the resin system.