Thermally insulated structure - tapered joint concept

摘要

Provided is a composite joint comprising a pair of adjoining composite panels disposed in side-by-side arrangement and being generally aligned with one another. Each one of the composite panels has opposing inner and outer face sheets sandwiching a core panel therebetween and includes a ramp portion wherein the composite panel transitions into a reduced thickness solid laminate edge portion. The core panel includes a plurality of cells extending between the inner and outer face sheets. The cells within the ramp portions are substantially filled with a filler material. The cells adjacent to the ramp portions are substantially filled with aerogel. The composite joint further comprises a primary splice plate extending across the solid laminate edge portions of the adjoining composite panels with mechanical fasteners extending through the solid laminate edge portions and passing through the primary splice plate. A layer of thermal barrier compound covers the primary splice plate.