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Joints are often unavoidable and can be critical points in a complex structure made up of different sub‐elements and materials, e.g., a lightweight aircraft structure. Joining can be performed with different techniques as mechanical fasteners, bonding, or hybrid bonded/bolted (HBB) solutions. HBB solutions are effectively used to join different materials, as metals and composites, leading to composite–metal HBB joint. In this paper, the structural behavior of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP)–aluminum single‐lap HBB joint is numerically investigated. Specifically, a detailed finite element model (FEM) is developed to study the joint subjected to an external tensile load. Analyses are conducted by considering two different bolt preloads and three external tensile loads (six tests in total). Results are compared with the aim to highlight the behavior of the joint, and in particular the stress–strain state in each component as a consequence of the applied load pair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the propagation of ultrasonic guided waves (UGW) along the structure to inspect has amply proven to be an excellent strategy for the health monitoring of isotropic and composite structures (SHM—structural health monitoring). For the proper development of the SHM system, the finite element method (FEM) must be mentioned, since the possibility to study the UGW in very complex structures, even characterized by different materials. Successfully locating any possible damage and identifying its severity are key factors in SHM, thus allowing to reduce the design costs. Numerically, the damage can be modeled with several approaches but it is still not clear which is the best solution to accurately reproduce the UGW mechanisms in a faulty structure. The objective of this paper is to study the various effects that different severities of damage can have on UGW propagation. For the scope, various numerical approaches are considered and the results are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]