Analysis of Multicell Braided Composite Joints

The paper is concerned with the design of joints for the construction of lightweight carbon fibre composite automobile spaceframes using a novel approach of multiple braided tubes. This technology known as CORETEX demonstrates the potential of using low cost carbon fibre braid for the manufacture of vehicle structures. The rigidity of vehicle body joints has a major influence on the torsional stiffness of automobile frames and the investigation of means to maximise this is the focus of this paper. An experimental and numerical analysis has been undertaken to investigate the stiffness and the failure modes of T-joints which represent a B-pillar connection. The experimental elements have been tested through in-plane bending in order to compare with finite element analysis (FEA) models.