Strain analysis of a bonded, dissimilar, composite material T-joint using moiré interferometry

High-sensitivity moiré interferometry and finite-element analysis are used to analyze the state of deformation and stress in the region of contact between a plane orthotropic rectangular punch bonded to a foundation with dissimilar elastic properties which models a highly loaded region of a composite material rocket motor casing. Stress distributions are presented for the contact region and an estimate of the maximum shear stress in the foundation is given. The displacement components show good qualitative agreement between analysis and experiment. The lack of quantitative agreement between the experimental and the finite-element analysis is attributed to uncertainty of the material properties.