Search Results

In recent years, structural adhesives have rapidly become the preferred alternative to resistance spot welding in fabricating stronger, lighter aluminum connections. Connections inevitably undergo and must withstand complex quasi-static and/or dynamic loads during their service life. Therefore, understanding how loading conditions affect the mechanical behavior of adhesive joints is vital to their design and the advancement of structural safety. Quasi-static and dynamic tests are performed to analyze both the strength and failure modes of aluminum 6062 substrates bonded by an adhesive (Darbond EP-1506) for an array of loading directions. An Arcan test device, which enables application of mixed-mode loads ranging from pure peel (mode I) to pure shear (mode II) to the adhesive layer, is employed in quasi-static testing. A self-designed medium-speed test machine is utilized to perform dynamic testing.

Similar to the traditional method of aeronautical wind tunnel testing a procedure to correct for support interference and wind tunnel interference in the automotive wind tunnel of Jilin University is described. Due to the fact that a moving belt is installed in the centre region of the test section the model was kept in place by an external support system. However, for our tests the moving belt was stationary. In order to separate the different interference effects two tests were carried out with the car model connected and disconnected from the support-structure linked to a six-component underfloor balance. In this way the aerodynamic force on a car model, which is then still contaminated by wind tunnel interference effects and the secondary interference effects of the model support on to the car model can be determined.