Novel Experimental and Analytical Methods for Designing Damage Tolerant Composite Structures (MSC P4180)

ABSTRACT: Composite materials often represent the most weight efficient and lowest cost solutions for airframe structures. Many of these structures are in areas that are susceptible to incidental impact damage and require adequate residual strength after impact for specified periods of service. Current design methodologies require designers to predict the residual response of full-scale composite structures based on costly and time consuming small-scale tests. Methods for translating the response of standard damage tolerance characterization tests to reliable predictions of the damage tolerance of full-scale composite structures have not been demonstrated. Under this program, Materials Sciences Corporation (MSC) and The Boeing Corporation will collaborate to demonstrate the feasibility of using progressive damage models developed at MSC to predict the impact and residual strength response of full-scale multi-bay composite airframe structures. Data generated under the Phase II program will be used to mature the unified test and modeling methodologies established during the prior effort by MSC, leading to the publication of a new proposed damage tolerance test standard. This standardization effort will be led by Dr. Dan Adams of Alveus Engineering, acting as subcontractor to MSC. Dr. Dan Adams and MSC will brief the ASTM D30 committee and the Federal Aviation Administration over the course of the program to obtain feedback on the implementation of the standard, and make improvements accordingly. This proposed standard will be validated via round-robin testing at MSC and the Boeing Company. BENEFIT: Materials Sciences Corporation expects that this SBIR program will yield a methodology for simulating the damage tolerance responses of composite structures that has been validated through comparison with experimental data. This validated methodology will enable a reduction in time and funding resources required to demonstrate that damage tolerance requirements have been met for military and commercial aircraft components.