The aerospace industry is arguably one of the biggest users of composite materials due to their high stiffness-to-weight and strength-to-weight ratios. Safe and weight-efficient design of airframe structures requires that engineers have good understanding of various kinds of damage that can occur in composite materials over their lifetime and how the presence of damage affects the performance of composite structures.
Complexity of damage in composites makes it very difficult to model it accurately. Over the years, methods that can capture damage evolution and damage interaction have been developed, but they are computationally very intensive and time consuming.
This 230-page book addresses the needs of preliminary design of composite structures when analytical models and simplified approaches can help estimate the effect of damage and account for its presence quickly and efficiently. Holes, cracks, delaminations, impact damage, and fatigue damage are all examined and discussed, each within a dedicated chapter. The introductory chapter gives an overview of damage in composites and points out some important differences between metals and composites with regard to notch sensitivity. The final chapter provides a very useful summary and set of design guidelines, which can serve as a quick reference source for practicing design and structural engineers. Each chapter is generously illustrated with figures, tables, and diagrams, some of which are printed in colour in the insert and contains a small set exercises at the end.
As this book has grown from a graduate course taught by the author at Delft University of Technology, strong emphasis is placed on comparative analysis of different analytical models, discussion of simplifying assumptions made within each model and assessment of each model's capabilities and limitations. This will help the readers – engineers who will be designing the next generation of airframe structures – to develop not only better understanding of underlying damage mechanisms, but also critical thinking and open-mindedness needed for evaluation of any new simplified approaches that may emerge in the future.
Many topics discussed in this book remain the subject of ongoing research, and better models and methodologies will undoubtedly follow.
