LARGE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES AND A PROCESS FOR FABRICATING LARGE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

摘要

In a process for fabricating large structures, a composite material panel is continuously pultruded in a pultrusion die assembly and cut transversely to the process direction to provide panel sections. The panel sections can be sufficiently long to extend from one end to an opposite end of the structure. The panel sections are assembled with a joint along adjacent edges using steel-to-composite and composite-to-composite joining technology. The joints can be integrated into the panel longitudinal edges, or separate joint assemblies can be fabricated. In this manner, fewer joints are required. A variety of in-plane and out-of-plane joint assemblies are provided.