Damage Growth in Aerospace Composites

Providing a state-of-the-art evaluation of key European research projects in the field, this book presents the latest and most advanced numerical approaches to simulating damage evolution in aerospace composites, including non-destructive methodologies.

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This book presents novel methods for the simulation of damage evolution in aerospace composites that will assist in predicting damage onset and growth and thus foster less conservative designs which realize the promised economic benefits of composite materials. The presented integrated numerical/experimental methodologies are capable of taking into account the presence of damage and its evolution in composite structures from the early phases of the design (conceptual design) through to the detailed finite element method analysis and verification phase. The book is based on the GARTEUR Research Project AG-32, which ran from 2007 to 2012, and documents the main results of that project. In addition, the state of the art in European projects on damage evolution in composites is reviewed. While the high specific strength and stiffness of composite materials make them suitable for aerospace structures, their sensitivity to damage means that designing with composites is a challenging task. The new approaches described here will prove invaluable in meeting that challenge.