DEVELOPMENT OF AN ADVANCED CONTINUUM THEORY FOR COMPOSITE LAMINATES

ADVANCED MATERIALS FOR AEROSPACE STRUCTURAL, POWER AND PROPULSION APPLICATION OFFER SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES IN TERMS OF EFFICIENCY AND COST. A WIDESPREAD APPLICATION OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS REQUIRES A DETAILED AND RELIABLE KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. THIS HAS LED TO DEVELOPMENT OF DIFFERENT LINEAR THEORIES FOR COMPOSITES IN RECENT YEARS. TO UTILIZE COMPOSITE MATERIALS TO THEIR FULL POTENTIALS, HOWEVER, ONE SHOULD ACCOUNT FOR THE EFFECT OF MICROSTRUCTURE, NONLINEARITY AND COMPLEX GEOMETRY OF THE COMPOSITE. THIS IS A KEY STEP TOWARDS THE EFFICIENT USE OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS IN THE NEXT GENERATION AEROSPACE STRUCTURAL, PROPULSION AND POWER SYSTEMS. THIS PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS AN ANSWER TO SUCH A NEED AND ATTEMPTS TO DEVELOP A NONLINEAR CONTINUUM THEORY FOR LAMINATED COMPOSITE MATERIALS THAT (I) ACCOUNTS FOR THE EFFECT OF MICROSTRUCTURE, (II) EXPLAINS AND PREDICTS THE BEHAVIOR OF THE COMPOSITE BASED ON PHYSICAL AND GEOMETRICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CONSTITUENTS, AND (III) IS APPROPRIATE FOR PROBLEMS INVOLVING NONLINEARITIES AND COMPLEX GEOMETRIES. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS THE FIRST STEP FOR MORE ACCURATE AND MORE EFFECTIVE ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND TESTING OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AEROSPACE AND COMMERCIAL UTILIZATION. THE RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION IS A KEY TO THE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF AEROSPACE VEHICLES AND STRUCTURES.