Durability Modeling and Simulation of Composite Materials

For the Phase I effort, Global Engineering and Research Technologies (GERT) will develop a validated methodology to predict damage initiation and growth or durability of composite materials under cyclic loading in extreme temperature conditions. This effort will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method by considering both laminated or woven composite materials while including the effect of variability in material properties, fiber placement, fiber volume fraction and fracture toughness. The analysis method will merge the generic (traditional) finite elements of classical continuum (local) mechanics and a special element of (non-local) peridynamic theory. The Phase I effort will consider published experimental investigations in the validation of the proposed approach. The predictions will be compared against the measured edge displacement and local strain data in a composite panel with a notch under uniaxial load. Also, the damage predictions will be compared against the photo micrographs of failure modes. Finally, the proposed method will be integrated into one of the existing finite element programs that can be used to perform damage growth and life prediction of loaded holes in composite laminates.