Residual Property Prediction for Damage Composite Structures

During a components service life, damage due to high or low energy impact may be introduced, which may lead to premature failure of these structures. Component level structural testing and analysis of advanced composites is prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Instead, using robust and accurate computational tools complemented by experiments at key stages is a viable and cost-effective option. Currently, there is no analysis capability that can predict all possible failure modes concerning advanced composites because damage initiation and its progressive growth is very complex, and that commonly accepted methods, such as finite element method or smoothed-particle hydrodynamics, break down. However, damage prediction in peridynamic theory (PD) is more realistic than the methods utilizing the classical continuum theory since the PD considers material failure as a part of the material response without resorting to any external damage criterion. Therefore, the PD appears to be the best candidate for damage assessment in advanced composite structures. The goal of this proposed project is to develop a methodology for accurate prediction of damage due to blast and penetration events as well as low-energy impacts, and determination of the residual strength resulting from these events on advanced composite structures and components.