Numerical and Experimental Investigation of a Laminated Aluminum Composite Structure.

This study presents an integrated numerical and experimental investigation of a laminated aluminum composite structure. The laminated aluminum composite structure was created by attaching structural tape adhesive in between aluminum layers and curing it in an oven. Three point bending tests were conducted on samples with different span lengths and thicknesses and their effect on the flexural response was observed and discussed. Using realistic material fracture models, simulations were performed to capture the different failure modes that were observed experimentally (large plastic deformation, wrinkling, and delamination). Good agreement was observed between the simulations and experiments. The delamination mechanism in the simulations was also discussed in detail. The developed simulation methodology can be used as a robust tool to predict the performance of laminated aluminum composite structures with more complex geometries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]