| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/S31549/01 |
| Title: |
DARP: MODELLING FAILURE INITIATION AND DAMAGE PROGRESSION IN rtm STRUCTURES |
| Principal Investigator: |
Hitchings, Mr D |
| Other Investigators: |
|
| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
|
| Project Partners: |
|
| Department: |
Aeronautics |
| Organisation: |
Imperial College London |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
06 October 2003 |
Ends: |
05 July 2007 |
Value (£): |
107,597
|
| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Materials testing & eng. |
Structural Engineering |
|
| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Aerospace, Defence and Marine |
|
|
| Related Grants: |
|
| Panel History: |
|
|
Summary on Grant Application Form |
|
Composite structures produced by resin infusion techniques will inevitably suffer from variability in resin distribution due to either imprecise placement of the fibre perform layer(s) or distortion of the perform either during mould closure or during the infusion process. The variability of resin distribution will result in resin rich areas in some places and resin starved areas in others. Clearly control of the severity of such resin distribution defects (and the consequent reinforcing fibre misalignment) will be a key element in the development of the manufacturing process but variations will occur and an assessment of the impact of these on the behaviour of the component is vital for high performance applications. Accurate predictive modelling will therefore be key to full exploitation of the potential of resin infused structures. In addition to aiding the design of large resin infused structure, such modelling will help firstly to establish general guidance on limits for acceptable defects, which will be important in the development of the manufacturing process, secondly to provide an accept / reject tool for components which have fallen outside these limits and thirdly to assess in-service damage and its interaction with the pre-existing defects. For some cases, e.g. the design of damage tolerant structures, it will be important to predict the nature of the failure progression beyond initiation; perhaps the failure will be rapid and catastrophic or perhaps the damage will grow then arrest and remain benign. The research proposed is for the development of a finite element based strategy for the prediction of failure progression in resin infused structures.
|
|
Key Findings |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Potential use in non-academic contexts |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Impacts |
|
| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
|
| Date Materialised |
|
|
|
|
Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
| Project URL: |
|
| Further Information: |
|
| Organisation Website: |
http://www.imperial.ac.uk |