Aircraft Technologies
BOJCAS: Bolted Joints in Composite Aircraft
Structures
Michael McCARTHY
The objective of BOJCAS is to develop advanced numerical design methods for bolted
joints in composite aircraft structures. This is a critical technology supporting the introduction
of composites into the primary structure of large commercial aircraft. The methods
developed have the potential to significantly reduce testing, and hence time/cost
of development, as well as aircraft weight with consequent increase in efficiency. They will
also help to ensure continued safety. This article provides an overview of activities within
the project.
he use of composite materials in
T aircraft structural components
has grown steadily with each
generation of aircraft. From ini-
tial applications in non-struc-
tural parts and secondary structures,
composites have increasingly found use
in primary aircraft structures, particu-
larly in light aircraft, commuter planes,
military fighters and helicopters. To
date, their use in the primary structure
of commercial aircraft has been relative-
ly limited. However intensive efforts are
currently taking place on future com-
posite wing and fuselage structures,
and the use of composites in primary
structures is likely to increase substan-
tially over the coming decade.
Such developments are being driven by
the potential benefits of composites,
chiefly in relation to reduced weight
and operating cost. However realising
the full value of this potential still
involves many technical challenges. To
ensure the future competitiveness of the
European aerospace industry, it is criti-
cal that the maximum possible benefits
are obtained to meet the challenge from
similar developments elsewhere. It is
also essential to maintain and improve
current levels of safety. To achieve these
goals the knowledge base of composite
structures behaviour needs to be
extended and advanced design tools
need to be developed.
BOJCAS addresses a critical aspect of
this challenge, namely composite bolted
joints. Because joints represent potential
weak points in the structure, the design
of the overall structure tends to follow
from, and be significantly limited by, the
design of the joint. Non-optimal design
of joints can lead to overweight struc-
tures, in-service structural problems
and high life-cycle costs. This is even
more pronounced in composite struc-
tures, since maximum joint efficiencies
are at best 40-50%, and at worst consid-
erably less. This compares with 70-80%
for metals and thus detracts from the
weight advantage of composites over
metals. Hence optimising joint efficien-
cy is crucial to realising the maximum
potential benefits of composites.
Some of the reasons for lower joint effi-
ciency in composites are: brittleness
which means little stress relief around
the highest loaded holes, anisotropy
which leads to higher stress concentra-
tion factors, low transverse strength,
susceptibility to delamination, and sen-
sitivity to environmental conditions. All
of these factors together with the com-
plexity of composite failure modes,
make the analysis and design of com-
posite joints far more complex than that
of metallic joints. Much effort has been
put into developing analytical design
methods for composite bolted joints,
using both closed-form analytical meth-
ods and numerical techniques such as
the finite element method. However, the
majority of models to date have been
overly simplistic in nature, and have
1 AIR & SPACE EUROPE • VOL. 3 • No 3/4 - 2001
STRUCTURES
had limited success in predicting joint
behaviour. Consequently, the current
design methods used in industry are
largely empirical and heavily reliant on
expensive and time-consuming testing.
Many of the methods have advanced lit-
tle from those developed during an
intense period of testing in the USA in
the 70s and 80s. Their application to
new, primary structures of commercial
aircraft, with increased uncertainties
due to new materials and thicker lami-
nates, and increased quantities of mate-
rial used in each test, is likely to lead to
expensive design cycles and overweight
joint designs. With recent developments
in computational mechanics and contin-
ued increase in processing power, there
is the potential to develop more
advanced analysis tools which could be
used to optimise joint design, reduce the
quantity of experimental tests required
in development, and improve funda-
mental understanding of joint behav-
iour, hence ensuring continued safety.
Project objectives
The overall objectives are:
• reliable and user-friendly analysis-
based design methods, with improv-
ed predictive capability which will
enable:
(a) a significant reduction in testing,
and hence time and cost of devel-
opment, and
BOJCAS

(b) the incorporation of composites Table I. The BOJCAS Partnership.

into the primary structure with
optimal weight savings. Ireland University of Limerick (Coordinator)
• a fundamental improvement in un- United Kingdom Airbus UK, DERA
derstanding of composite bolted joint Germany EADS Airbus
behaviour, especially in primary Sweden SAAB AB, FOI, Royal Institute of Technology
structures, thus contributing to con- Italy CIRA
tinued safety. The Netherlands NLR
Greece ISTRAM
The partnership Switzerland SMR
The consortium consists of three aircraft
manufacturers, four national aerospace
laboratories, two universities, and two a baseline (Tasks 2.1 and 2.2). These bolted composite repairs, which are
research companies. Eight countries are methods include handbook/design essentially complex multi-fastener
represented as shown in table I. chart methods and two-dimensional joints. Improved analysis of repairs will
The start date was February 2000 and finite element methods. Then new glob- considerably reduce testing needed for
the duration of the project is 36 months. al methods will be developed mostly the certification of repair configurations
based on two-dimensional finite ele- and procedures given as standards
ment methods with specialised tech- within the Structural Repair Manual.
Programme content niques to model bolt-hole interaction, Other benchmark structures are aimed
The programme structure is illustrated and validated on the benchmarks at studying the effects of variable bolt
in figure 1. Bearing in mind the needs of (Task 2.3). Figure 2 illustrates one of the patterns, as well as damage tolerance.
industry for preliminary and detailed benchmark structures. This benchmark For comparison with the global meth-
design tools, the following outputs are structure will consist of several varia- ods, the benchmark structures will also
planned: tions on a skin-stringer joint element for be modelled using global-local meth-
• global design methods, for prelimi- a potential hybrid metal/composite ods. These methods are being devel-
nary design of complex, multi-fasten- wing. The structures will be relevant to oped to automatically couple global
er joints; the design of the lateral wingbox in the models with much more detailed local
• detailed design methods for final EU project TANGO and will also models of the bolt regions. More
design of critical joints; address the issue of metal/composite detailed models are needed because
• methods to couple global and detail- joints in a generic way. Another bench- several effects influencing failure are
ed design methods, i.e. to streamline mark structure will be representative of three-dimensional in nature, and cannot
the process of producing a detailed
analysis from a preliminary analysis;
• design guidelines for primary com-
posite bolted joints based on analyses
and tests.
The project is divided into a global
strand (WP 1, 2 and 3) and a local strand
(WP 4 and 5) with the coupled global-
local methods bridging the two strands.
Interaction takes place between the
strands by using the knowledge gained
from the detailed local methods to
improve the global methods. Each
strand contains major testing and analy-
sis components.
At the global level, a series of ‘bench-
mark’ structures representative of com-
plex, primary, multi-fastener joint con-
figurations, will be designed and tested.
Global design techniques will be used to
design and predict the performance of
these benchmarks. Initially, existing in-
house methods will be used to provide Figure 1. BOJCAS programme structure.

2
Aircraft Technologies STRUCTURES

will be processor speed, which can be

expected to be removed within just a
few years. Once validated these models
can also be used to generate design data
for use in preliminary design, with con-
siderably less experimental tests than
are required at present.
In WP 5, an experimental test programme
will be carried out involving smaller-
scale joints than the benchmarks. These
tests will provide further data related to
some of the issues covered by the bench-
mark structures (e.g. composite-metal
joints, bolted repairs), as well as provid-
ing data for validation of the detailed
models. An extensive list of parameters is
Figure 2. Example benchmark structure: skin-stringer joint element
being examined, including variations in
for hybrid metal/composite wing. (Doc. Airbus UK) geometry, loading, materials, lay-ups,
bolt-types, environmental conditions,
bolt-hole clearances, clamping force and
be accounted for by two-dimensional not currently suitable for use in the pre- others. Tests will be extensively instru-
techniques. For example, non-uniform liminary design phase. Work in BOJCAS mented using techniques such as strain
through-thickness stress distributions is aimed at automating the setup pro- gauging, photoelasticity and intrument-
exist in situations involving counter- cess as far as possible, so that the only ed bolts, and detailed fractographic fail-
sunk bolts, non-symmetrical loading, barrier to exploiting these methods fully ure analysis will be performed (figure 5).
bolt bending, or bolt tilting in holes with
clearance, and lead to significant stress
concentrations. This will particularly be
the case with thick primary structures.
The ‘bearing’ mode of failure (in which
the laminate is locally crushed at the
hole) has been shown to be a three-
dimensional phenomenon, involving
through-thickness cracks and delamina-
tions. Such comparisons will also enable Figure 3. Three-dimensional stress distributions in single-lap joint. (Doc. ULIM)
the improvement of global methods via
improved spring stiffnesses and correc-
tion factors for three-dimensional
effects.
At the local level, work is focusing on
the development and validation of
detailed joint models incorporating new
means of determining failure. Figure 3
illustrates the localised nature of the
stress distributions in single-lap joints,
which cannot be accounted for with
two-dimensional methods. Figure 4
illustrates the use of progressive dam-
age modelling to track the progression
of failure in each ply until final failure of
the joint. Such techniques possess the
potential for more accurate failure pre-
diction than the essentially empirical
failure criteria currently in use.
Such detailed models take considerable Figure 4. Progressive damage propagation at different load levels
time to set up and run, and as such are (upper surface of a [90/0-45/45]S8 laminate). (Doc. ISTRAM)

3 AIR & SPACE EUROPE • VOL. 3 • No 3/4 - 2001

BOJCAS
Figure 5. Analysis of damage progression using microscopy (FOI).
Finally evaluation and summary tasks
will take place. The global methods are
aimed at immediate exploitation, and as
such will be implemented into the
industrial partners’ codes of choice and
assessed by those partners. The detailed
methods will be assessed for their
exploitation potential and a path
towards implementation will be drawn
up. Overall, the results from the tests
and analyses will be used to form
design guidelines for composite bolted
joints.
Current status
In the first year of the project, all the
benchmark structures have been desig-
ites in aircraft structural components.
Since joints have such a critical effect on
the safety and efficiency of aircraft
structures, it is vital that the most
advanced design methods are used. A
high potential exists to reduce develop-
ment costs, maximise weight savings,
increase manufacturer and operator
confidence in composites, and ensure
safety of future primary composite
structures. The spin-off potential of the
developed technology is very high in
several other fields such as shipbuild-
ing, space, nuclear, chemical, offshore,
automotive, rail and civil engineering.
Several of the partners in BOJCAS have
been involved for many years in nation-
al programmes on composite bolted
joints. BOJCAS will pool this collective
expertise and provide a European per-
spective on this important topic. ■
ned and predictions have been made
regarding load distributions and failure
loads. Fabrication has begun and tests
will be complete by the mid-term
assessment. The specimen tests in WP 5
are under way and will also be complete
by mid-term. Modelling of the bench-
mark structures with global methods
has been performed, and initial global-
local models will shortly be ready for
comparison. Interim reports on the About the authors:
detailed models of the specimen tests Michael McCarthy is Director, Composites
will be supplied at the end of Month 12. Research Centre; and Lecturer,
Department of Mechanical
Conclusions and Aeronautical Engineering, University
of Limerick, Ireland.
BOJCAS is focused on an enabling tech- Michael.McCarthy@ul.ie
nology for the increased use of compos-