Fibre composite sandwich structures are characterized by high mass-specific mechanical properties. However, disadvantages include a tendency to delamination and low resistance to impact loads. Additionally, load introduction points are weak spots within the material, because of no proper absorption of the local loads by the core and no introduction of the load to the stiff face sheets. The conventional method to overcome this issue is to cut a recess into the sandwich structure, where an insert is glued in with a potting agent.

Within this study, optimized textile structures instead of conventional inserts are used to reinforce load introduction points in fibre composite sandwich panels. The goal was to develop textile patches with an adaptable fibre orientation to any specific load case. A FEM-based patch design process was developed and the patches were manufactured using the Tailored Fibre Placement (TFP) technology. TFP is an adaption of conventional embroidery techniques for the use in fibre reinforced plastics and enables the possibility to place reinforcement rovings according to a design pattern specified by the user.