Adhesively bonded lap-joints for the composite-steel shell structure of high-speed vehicles

Recently the design and manufacture elf lightweight train structures have become important in order to increase speed. Composite train structures have many advantages over conventional steel or aluminum train structures because of their high specific strength, modulus and high damping capacity, which is beneficial for NVH (noise, vibration and harshness). From the structures of high-speed trains, the upper car-body is a good candidate for composite structures which increase the stability of trains due to the low gravity center of vehicles. If the side body of the train is made of steel plates, then joining of composite structures to the steel structures is required. In this work, the adhesive joining method between the composite upper car-body structure and the steel side plates was investigated. A 1/10-size model of a real train subjected to internal pressure was developed and tested statically and dynamically. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.