Influence of Process and Material Parameters on Impact Response in Composite Structure: Methodology Using Design of Experiments

Even if the mechanical performances of composite materials give new perspectives for the aircraft and space design, the variability of their behavior, linked to the presence of initial microscopic defects or led in service, constitute however a still important brake in their development. As regards particularly the response to fatigue loads or ageing, the behavior of these materials is affected by several sources of uncertainties, notably on the nature of the physical mechanisms of degradation, which are translated by a strong dispersion in life time. In aerospace industry, low energy impact phenomenon is not well known concerning composite materials and composite structures. Many manufacturers use important safety factors to design structures. The aim of this work is to define the most predominant parameters which permit a good response of damage using experiences plans. The differences of these parameters by using Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) or Liquid Resin Infusion (LRI) process than prepreg one is also studied in this work

Experimental and numerical modelling of LRI process

The aim of this study is to gain knowledge concerning the process and its physics, as well as to become able to optimize the fabrication of large and complex composite parts in aeronautics applications. Composite materials have many advantages and the use of this technology is increasing in the aeronautic industry. In the L.R.I. process, dry textile preforms are impregnated by a thermoset liquid resin. All the elements are enclosed in a vacuum bag of known pressure. Once preforms are totally impregnated, the resin system begins the curing reaction to obtain the composite part. This study contains two major sections. Firstly, numerical modeling was done with the Pam- Rtm finite element code to determine the evolution of the flow front during the infusion. Simulations were performed to analyze the infusion of sandwich composite parts with perforate foam, which allows the inferior skin to be impregnated in the same operation. Secondly, experimental work was conducted to confirm the numerical results

Identification of damaged zone in composite materials using displacement field measurements

This work presents an identification strategy of local elastic properties of orthotropic carbon-epoxy laminates for aviation industry. Based on global and local stages of study, this methodology uses the Finite Element Model Updating (FEMU) method as identification technique with simulated kinematic fields corresponding to tensile test response. The aim of this paper is to predict the spatial variation of elastic plane properties and to deduce the localization of damaged zones

Study of image characteristics on digital image correlation error assessment

In this paper, errors related to digital image correlation (DIC) technique applied to measurements of displacements are estimated. This work is based on the generation of synthetic images representative of real speckle patterns. With these images, various parameters are treated in order to determine their impact on the measurement error. These parameters are related to the type of deformation imposed on the speckle, the speckle itself (encoding of the image, image saturation) or the software (subset size)

Parameter identification of a mechanical ductile damage using Artificial Neural Networks in sheet metal forming.

In this paper, we report on the developed and used of finite element methods, have been developed and used for sheet forming simulations since the 1970s, and have immensely contributed to ensure the success of concurrent design in the manufacturing process of sheets metal. During the forming operation, the Gurson–Tvergaard–Needleman (GTN) model was often employed to evaluate the ductile damage and fracture phenomena. GTN represents one of the most widely used ductile damage model. In this investigation, many experimental tests and finite element model computation are performed to predict the damage evolution in notched tensile specimen of sheet metal using the GTN model. The parameters in the GTN model are calibrated using an Artificial Neural Networks system and the results of the tensile test. In the experimental part, we used an optical measurement instruments in two phases: firstly during the tensile test, a digital image correlation method is applied to determinate the full-field displacements in the specimen surface. Secondly a profile projector is employed to evaluate the localization of deformation (formation of shear band) just before the specimen’s fracture. In the validation parts of this investigation, the experimental results of hydroforming part and Erichsen test are compared with their numerical finite element model taking into account the GTN model. A good correlation was observed between the two approaches

Shear Test on CFRP Full-Field Measurement and Finite Element Analysis

The purpose of this work is to study the Iosipescu shear test and more precisely its ability to characterize the shear modulus of a carbone/epoxy composite material. The parameters influencing this identification are the fibre orientation, the geometry of the notch and the boundary conditions. Initially these parameters were studied through the finite element analysis of the shear test. Then, the measurement of the shear strains was carried out by traditional methods of measurement (strain gauges) but also by optical methods. These optical methods: the digital image correlation and the electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI); allow for various levels of loading, to reach a full-field measurement of the shear strain. This enabled us to study the strain distribution on the section between the two notches. The finite element model enabled us to study the parameters influencing the calculation of the shear modulus in comparison with strain gauges, image correlation and ESPI. This work makes it possible to conclude on optimal parameters for the Iosipescu test

Effect of Ductile Damage Evolution in Sheet Metal Forming: Experimental and Numerical Investigations

The numerical simulation based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) is widely used in academic institutes and in the industry. It is a useful tool to predict many phenomena present in the classical manufacturing forming processes such as necking, fracture, springback, buckling and wrinkling. But, the results of such numerical model depend strongly on the parameters of the constitutive behavior model. In the first part of this work, we focus on the traditional identification of the constitutive law using oriented tensile tests (0°, 45°, and 90° with respect to the rolling direction). A Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method is used in order to measure the displacements on the surface of the specimen and to analyze the necking evolution and the instability along the shear band. Therefore, bulge tests involving a number of die shapes (circular and elliptic) were developed. In a second step, a mixed numerical–experimental method is used for the identification of the plastic behavior of the stainless steel metal sheet. The initial parameters of the inverse identification were extracted from a uniaxial tensile test. The optimization procedure uses a combination of a Monte-Carlo and a Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. In the second part of this work, according to some results obtained by SEM (Scaning Electron Microscopy) of the crack zones on the tensile specimens, a Gurson Tvergaard Needleman (GTN) ductile model of damage has been selected for the numerical simulations. This model was introduced in order to give informations concerning crack initiations during hydroforming. At the end of the paper, experimental and numerical comparisons of sheet metal forming applications are presented and validate the proposed approach

Identification of materials properties using displacement field measurement

The aim of this work is to identify parameters driving constitutive equations of materials with displacement field measurements carried out by image stereo-correlation during an unidirectional tensile test. We evaluate two identification techniques. The first one is the virtual fields method which consists in writing the principle of virtual work with particular virtual fields. It is generally used in the case of linear elasticity and it requires a perfect knowledge of the model in terms of boundary condition since the virtual fields used must be kinematically admissible. This method allows to determine parameters by a direct and fast calculation, without iterations. The second method is the finite element model updating method. It consists in finding constitutive parameters that achieve the best match between finite element analysis quantities and their experimental counterparts. This method is more adaptable than the virtual field method but it needs to spend more calculation time

Non destructive investigation of defects in composite structures by three infrared thermographic techniques

This paper investigates full-field measurement techniques based on Infrared Thermography for Non Destructive Testing (NDT) applications on composite materials. Three methods have been implemented and the paper intends to characterize and compare their defect detection limit and related specific application fields. Various composites have been considered in this study, namely laminates and sandwich structures, in order to address many important issues of performance assessment for the aviation industry

Digital image stereo-correlation applied to the identification of elastomers

As a complement to classic characterization in the identification of elastomers, full-field measurement methods such as image stereo correlation can undeniably contribute to the validation of elastomeric connection behaviour. Indeed, these measurements enable three-dimensional displacement and strains fields over the totality of the studied surface to be finely reached. Characterization tests in shearing on an elastomer were followed by image stereocorrelation up to high strain levels. The experimental results could thus be confronted with theoretical results using an Alexander hyperelastic behaviour law, which enabled the relevance of this law to be validated locally