This paper on "Through Thickness Failure Prediction for Fibre Reinforced Composites" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on Design, Simulation & Optimisation: Reliability & Applicability of Computational Methods - 9-11 April 1997, Stuttgart, Germany.

Summary

Two critical issues for accurate prediction of delamination are addressed. A statistical approach is presented to account for the effect of the stressed volume on failure, and a fracture mechanics based approach is presented which can cope with stress singularities, and overcomes the difficulty of specifying an initial defect size.