Novel Experimental and Analytical Methods for Designing Damage Tolerant Composite Structures

In the proposed program, Firehole Technologies, Inc. will adapt Helius:MCT™, its industry-leading software product for composite failure-progression analysis of large structures, to the specific problem of simulating damage accumulation after impact or other initial imperfection. In parallel, the project will develop experiential methods to produce analysis input parameters that will be key to establishing the damage state of the composite. BENEFIT: Successful completion of this project will be a significant step toward enabling the Aerospace industry to realize the full potential of composite structures, as it would enable airframer to scale their analysis methods to entire structures while taking into account damage tolerance requirements. Additionally, the development of an industry standard coupon or small component test to characterize the damage tolerance of any composite material would provide air frame designers with engineering data equivalently accessible and equally essential as ASTM D3039 tension data is to ground based composite structures.