Aging Prediction of Airworthiness of Aircraft Composite Components Accounting for Flight and Environmental Conditions - P4634

There is a need for a damage assessment and failure prediction tool capable of conservative prediction of the structural response of composite components for given flight and environmental exposure history as well as over load incident conditions, based on individual aircraft tracking data.  To meet this need, Materials Sciences LLC (MSC) proposes expanding on a successful composites damage and durability model, DDSHM (Discrete Damage Space Homogenization Method), proven to provide both damage and failure prediction capabilities for composite structures subjected to thermomechanical static and fatigue loads, by integrating additional environmental degradation mechanisms. This model will then be used to characterize damage response as a function of history parameters and sensor input through analysis of experimental data compared to modeled material structural response, thus permitting conversion of mission specific events to finite element specification. The overarching objective of this program will be to develop and deliver a suite of composite material models that can be integrated with commercially available finite element codes to model damage evolution and deliver information that, when combined with physical inspection and SHM data, allows assessment of the health or remaining useable service life of a composite structure subjected to varying life cycle loads and operating environments.