Injection Bolted Connections (IBC) are connections in which the cavity between the bolts and the plates (hole clearance) is filled with two-component epoxy resin. The oversized hole clearances allow for the reuse of all the structural elements in composite structures. Due to larg
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Injection Bolted Connections (IBC) are connections in which the cavity between the bolts and the plates (hole clearance) is filled with two-component epoxy resin. The oversized hole clearances allow for the reuse of all the structural elements in composite structures. Due to larger hole clearance, the possibility of slip occurrence in the connection is higher and hence there is a need to study the behaviour of resin and steel-reinforced resin (SRR) under cyclic loading. A custom made setup with 3 and 6 mm oversize that replicates the nominal bearing stress experienced by the resin in a double lap shear joint was used to study the behaviour of the resin/SRR under cyclic loading. The slip obtained from cyclic loading is extrapolated for 5 million cycles to check if maximum slip exceeds the failure criterion of 0.3 mm and slip range exceeds the failure criterion of 0.1 mm over 5 million cycles. Numerical modelling was done to see if the results (initial stiffness) obtained from the experiments can be replicated by the material models for static and one cycle loading with the help of a reasonable friction coefficient between the steel and resin surfaces. Good sets of results were obtained for all the tested stress ranges. On extrapolating to 5 million cycles, resin specimens with 3 mm hole clearance failed at a stress range of 200 MPa and resin specimens with 6 mm hole clearance failed at a stress range of 150 MPa. SRR specimens with 6 mm hole clearance failed at a stress range of 200 MPa. From numerical modelling, a good correlation was found between the force vs displacement curve obtained from the experiments to the curve obtained from the numerical model.