Experimental and numerical study of bending-induced buckling of stiffened composite plate assemblies

Despite their importance in benchmarking numerical simulations, buckling tests still feature compromises between component-level and high-fidelity large-scale tests. For example, compression-induced buckling tests cannot capture the through-thickness or span-wise stress gradients in wing skins. Consequently, the results obtained often require...

Experimental quality assessment of thermoplastic composite corner regions manufactured using laser-assisted tape placement

Over the past 25 years, interest in thermoplastic composites in aircraft has steadily increased. Combining winding and laser-assisted tape placement is a promising method to manufacture thermoplastic structures using in-situ consolidation, as shown recently by manufacturing a variable stiffness, unitized, integrated-stiffener thermoplastic...

Morphology of ply drops in thermoplastic composite materials manufactured using laser-assisted tape placement

Mechanical properties of composite laminates can be tuned by either tailoring ply orientations or by using ply drops to change thickness profiles. The latter cause resin-rich pockets to form in thermoset composites that are autoclave cured after lay-down. This paper focuses on the morphology of ply drop regions with carbon fibre thermoplastic...

In-line variable spreading of carbon fibre/thermoplastic pre-preg tapes for application in automatic tape placement

This study investigates a device for in-line continuous spreading of carbon fibre/thermoplastic pre-preg tape for potential application in the Laser-Assisted Automatic Tape Placement (LATP) laminate manufacturing process. The spreading device allows variable tape width to be achieved locally during lay-up. Integration of this device in the...

Static test of a variable stiffness thermoplastic composite wingbox under shear, bending and torsion

Automated manufacturing of thermoplastic composites has found increased interest in aerospace applications over the past three decades because of its great potential in low-cost, high rate, repeatable production of high performance composite structures. Experimental validation is a key element in the development of structures made using this...

Properties of a thermoplastic composite skin-stiffener interface in a stiffened structure manufactured by laser-assisted tape placement with in situ consolidation

A critically important consideration of stiffened structural panels is the interfacial properties between skin and stiffener. In the present study a novel implementation of laser-assisted tape placement (LATP) was used to produce a representative skin-stiffener of a wingbox from carbon fibre reinforced PEEK. First, a stiffener is manufactured...