The paper describes a program currently underway at Composite Technology Development, Inc. to dramatically improve the design and capabilities of lightweight linerless composite tanks. The program integrates material development and characterization, micromechanics-based analyses of composite materials and structural design and fabrication of prototype tanks. This integrated systematic approach...

The microcracking process in laminates which have outer-ply 90◦ plies (e.g. [90m/0n]s) has some important differences from the microcracking process in laminates which lack outer-ply 90◦ plies (e.g. [0n/90m]s). Foremost among the differences is the characteristic damage state. [90m/0n]s laminates form antisymmetric or staggered microcracks while [0n/90m]s laminates form symmetric microcracks. T...

Delamination is a critical form of failure in composite laminates which is partitioned into a combination of three pure modes namely; opening, shearing and tearing (modes I, II and III respectively). Each fracture mode contributes to the total energy required for delamination growth, due to a combination of the different damage mechanisms that occur under each mode 1-2 . To formulate reliable m...

High velocity impact and shock or blast responses are a critical design characteristic determining sizing of composite parts and, ultimately, weight savings. This study demonstrates the applicability of peridynamics to accurately predict nonlinear transient deformation and damage behavior of composites under shock or blast types of loadings due to explosions. The peridynamic predictions correla...

The presence of the delamination causes reductions in the bending stiffness which in turn leads to the undesirable loss in the compressive buckling and post-buckling strength. Thus, it is of chief importance to investigate the compressive behavior of composites with delaminations. Anastasiadis et al. analyzed the buckling and postbuckling behavior of delaminated composite laminates with a throu...

In this paper, progressive damage and global failure of composite laminates under quasi-static, monotonic loading are investigated using 3D continuum damage mechanics. For this purpose, a finite element program has been developed using an eight-node 2D layered element including layer-wise plate theory. Damage analysis of a single orthotropic layer under various uniform in-plane and transverse l...