Analysis Tools for Composite Laminate Material Properties Prediction

ATA Engineering, Inc. proposes to advance the current state-of-the-art composite analysis techniques to predict laminate properties from limited ply-level material property data with an innovative approach to composite failure analysis. The Phase I effort will develop a stochastic approach to address strength-parameter variability, combined with a three-dimensional progressive failure model to properly capture out-of-plane strength and stiffness parameters. Along with variations in the material, environmental, and manufacturing variables, three-dimensional spatial variations will be introduced to accommodate variations in properties throughout a composite structure. The proposed progressive failure model will consider improved material property degradation models that better represent the physics during failure. Finally, advanced statistical sampling techniques will be employed to improve computational efficiency as compared to traditional random sampling methods.