Delamination Effect on the Buckling Behaviour of Carbon–Epoxy Composite Typical Aeronautical Panels

Abstract

The instability of structures due to compression is one of the most critical issues related to aircraft components. Especially in composite materials, which have poor out-of-plane mechanical properties, the buckling load must be assessed to ensure that the structures are within the safe limits compared to the operating loads. In the presence of delamination, the compression instability of structures becomes catastrophic, as the propagation of delamination can dramatically reduce the stiffness of the structure almost instantaneously. During the operational life of composite aircraft components, one of the most common events that can occur is low-velocity impact with foreign objects, which is one of the primary reasons for delamination. In this paper, a sensitivity analysis is presented on a typical aerospace reinforced panel with a circular delamination, representative of an impact damage. Different configurations have been analysed, varying the radius and position along the thickness of the delamination. Furthermore, some geometric parameters of the panel have been modified to evaluate how the buckling load and the propagation of interlaminar damage evolve.

A Numerical Assessment of the Influence of Local Stress Ratio in the Fatigue Analysis of Post-Buckled Composite Single-Stringer Specimen

“…Numerous numerical methods have emerged with the goal of incorporating Paris' law into Finite Element (FE) analyses. Several researchers [3][4][5][6][7] have utilized the Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) to determine the energy release rate and subsequently the crack growth rate according to Paris' law. This methodology was recently integrated into the FE software ABAQUS [8] and has proven effective in analyzing fatigue-induced delamination at the coupon level [9].…”

Fiber Bragg Gratings Sensor Strain–Optic Behavior with Different Polymeric Coatings Subjected to Transverse Strain

“…-Know and quantify the properties of the material, such as maximum allowable defect size or speed and propagation of the defect, among others. Both fields have been extensively studied in the specific case of composite materials [16][17][18]. -Have an inspection and maintenance policy that can detect faults before they reach critical size [19,20].…”

Influence of Delamination Size and Depth on the Compression Fatigue Behaviour of a Stiffened Aerospace Composite Panel

“…The use of this numerical procedure is the real added value of this work, which includes a sensitivity analysis of a typical aeronautical reinforced panel subjected to typical impact damage of varying size and depth in the skin panel bay. This manuscript can be considered an evolution of previous work [36], where the static failure of an aeronautical stiffened composite panel under compressive loading conditions was studied. The results showed a strong dependence of the panel compressive behaviour on the geometric parameters, including the depth and size of the circular delamination.…”