PROJECT TITLE: Design of Damage-Tolerant Composite Sandwich Panels with Tear Straps
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The objectives of the Phase-I research address the development of mechanics-based structural integrity analysis methodologies for composite sandwich panels with cracks. The methodologies and models will be implemented in a finite element code with STAGS which represent fracture mechanics capability for predicting the crack turning, the direction of failure progression, and residual strength. Further the line integrals developed will remove the complicated and time-consuming task of remeshing or adjusting the mesh direction as the crack extends or kinks, thereby accurately evaluating the critical crack-tip parameters for crack growth direction. Using the established fracture criteria for crack initiation and propagation, the direction of crack growth and residual strength of sandwich panels can be evaluated. It aims at establishing novel modeling capability of assessing and optimizing the residual strength of flat and curved sandwich panels.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The analytical and computational development of anisotropic fracture mechanics-based models will be combined to greatly improve our predictive capability on the damage tolerance of composite panels. The integrated design tool will allow, for the first time, the composite structures to be designed for aircraft applications with confidence. Airframe designers will use this tool by varying major design parameters to produce an optimal structure which not only provides fail-safe capability but also would improve the performance with the new technologies.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Gary X. Cai
Structures Technology, Inc.
2016 Cameron Street, Suite 213
Raleigh , NC 27605
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR
Structures Technology, Inc.
2016 Cameron Street
Raleigh , NC 27605