Thermo-viscoelastic analysis of the integrated T-shaped composite structures

A thermo-viscoelastic finite element analysis is used to investigate the residual stresses and the curing deformation of the integrated T-shaped composite structure. First, a three dimensional (3D) incremental viscoelastic constitutive equation is established and implemented into the finite element software ABAQUS to predict the full field warpage profiles of the integrated T-shaped structures. These results are validated based on the measured data obtained from digital speckle correlation technology. Second, the effects of the cooling rate on the warpage deformation and the residual stresses of the integrated T-shaped composite structure are studied. Finally, the relationships between the different curing strategies and the corresponding residual stresses are studied, and it shows that the Outside-to-Inside curing strategy will develop the smallest residual stresses for the integrated T-shaped composite structures.