Tuesday  |  Salon 9  |  09:40 AM–10:00 AM

#15725, Quantifying Damage Propagation in Composites Using Uncalibrated Thermoelastic Stress Analysis

The complexity of composite materials creates a challenge when monitoring and predicting the remnant life of damaged structures. This work demonstrates a non-contact technique that uses uncalibrated thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) for tracking damage in composites under cyclic loading. TSA maps of the components surface were collected throughout the duration of each test and feature vectors were extracted from the maps using orthogonal decomposition. The difference between feature vectors at different stages of the tests were used to detect small changes in the TSA maps as a result of damage development. The technique has been successfully applied to a range of coupon geometries, including 45-degree slot and hole in the plate specimens. The approach provides a methodology to monitor damage within composite components as it develops in the form of delaminations and surface cracking. Data collected from across all coupon geometries, has been used for the development of empirical models that have the potential to enable predictions of damage propagation and remnant life. Such techniques applied to complex structures could improve our understanding of how large structures degrade and predict their future performance.

Peter Lambert   University of Liverpool
Eann Patterson   University of Liverpool
William Christian   University of Liverpool