Patent ID: 7229513

Claim:
A method for fabricating a laminate composite structure comprised of a solid laminate and a composite sandwich structure, the method comprising: layering a plurality of plies of material with interspersed orientations within a stacking sequence to create the solid laminate; terminating a plurality of inner plies of the solid laminate such that outer plies of the laminate composite extend to create a top face sheet and a bottom face sheet of the composite sandwich structure; inserting a second plurality of plies of material in the laminate composite structure where the inner plies of the solid laminate terminate and extending the second plurality of plies of material from the point of termination of the inner plies for a specified distance, wherein the second plurality of plies of material do not extend as long as the top face sheet and the bottom face sheet of the composite sandwich structure; and inserting a plurality of pins into the solid laminate composite, prior to curing the laminate composite, at locations in the geometry of the solid laminate where the solid laminate forms a bend.