High-Fidelity Residual Strength and Life Prediction Tool for Adhesively Bonded Composite Structures

The overarching objective for this project is to develop an analysis tool to predict the behavior of pristine, degraded, defective, and damaged bonded joints in composites structures. The tool will include a multi-physics module with numerical formulations for describing the process-driven and environmentally-impacted behaviors of the adhesive and the composite laminates. The primary objective for the proposed Phase I effort will be to demonstrate the feasibility of a fully parametric bonded joint evaluation tool using various capabilities of StressCheck and a Design Of Experiments approach to calibration, verification, and validation of the analytical models. This analytical tool will be a multi-scale, FEA-based, analysis tool capable of evaluating the various details of typical bonded joints at a scale that is adequate for each detail of interest. A test program will be used to perform two main functions. The first function will be to supply relevant and unique coupon and element level test data that will be used to calibrate the analysis models. The second function will be to generate higher level (element and sub-component) test data to validate the analysis tools over the entire realm of the design space over which the tool is expected to be deployed.