Prediction of Damage Propagation and Failure of Composite Structures (Without Testing)

Abstract

The increasing application of advanced fibrous composites as primary structural materials in aerospace, marine and automotive applications has resulted in the need of developing reliable methods to predict the performance of composite structures beyond initial local failure. The partial replacement of testing in the prediction of damage propagation and failure mechanisms in composite structures beyond the first failure has been motivated by the high cost and difficulty of extensive experiments on composite structures, especially at high- or full-scale level.