Method for mechanical joining a tube of composite material and a metallic fitting and structure thus obtained

A method of joining a tube of composite material and a tubular metal fitting, comprising the steps of:

• winding filaments of pre-impregnated fibers to produce a tube of composite with a longitudinal axis, the fibers providing tensile strength for the tube being at a tensile fiber angle relative to the longitudinal axis;
• introducing a tubular metal fitting at least partially into an end of a tube section of said composite material tube with inner and outer parts of the fitting being located inside and outside of the tube section, respectively;
• and
• securing the inner and outer parts to the tube section by inserting penetrating elements extending radially through the tube section and the parts of the fitting, the penetrating elements being arranged in uniform circumferential alignments which are equally spaced from each other along the longitudinal axis, each of the circumferential alignments defining an alignment plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and conforming to ##EQU4## where D=distance between two adjacent alignment planes of the circumferential alignments,
• K=an integer equal to 1 or 2,
• n=number of circumferential alignments of penetrating elements,
• i=an interval between two consecutive penetrating elements in the same circumferential alignment, and
• .alpha.=the tensile fiber angle.