Analysis and Optimization of Metal to Composite Joints for Marine Structures

Abstract

Composite to metal joints as important components of marine structures are gradually found in the marine industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate mechanical performance and optimization method of the composite sandwich to steel joints. The main emphasis was placed on the mechanical properties of a hybrid joint between a sandwich glass fibre reinforced plastic superstructure and a steel main hull. Based on the experiments of a base joint, a new finite element method was used to analyze a series of joints. The optimized joint was presented due to reducing weight and enhancing the mechanical performance. The numerical predictions of the base hybrid joint showed a very good correlation with the experiment results, which validated the reliability of the new finite element method. The strength of the optimized joint was also evaluated by finite element method. The result is similar to the base joint. And there is no additional stress concentration in weak parts. The optimized joint has 30% lower weight than the base joint, and the stress is only about 5% ~ 56% of the base one. The results of the present work imply that the change of geometric parameter is an effective method to improve the performance of the metal to composite joint.