Analytical Investigation of the Toughening Potential of a Failure Tailoring Concept

Abstract

A parametric study has been performed to determine the upper bounds of toughening benefit achievable using an approximate model for the response of one-dimensional, tailored, flexible composite-material tethers with progressive failure. The tailoring concept is achieved through judicious arrangement of redundant load paths with unequal length and strength and has been proposed, modeled, and experimentally verified in previous research. The model is recast in this work using nondimensional material-independent parameters that are varied over ranges of interest in advanced composites. The effects of each parameter on the response of the tailored member are discussed. An increase of nearly two orders of magnitude in toughness over an untailored member is found to be attainable by taking complete advantage of the energy dissipated by the failure of each load path within the bounds of the study. Challenges to implementation of the tailored member as approximated by the model are also discussed.