Assessment of damage in helicopter rotor blades is essential to ensure their structural integrity. Damage in the form of skin/core debonding (SCD) in composite rotor blades is of concern as it has been observed in the field, and is believed to be one of major damage modes. Since existing SCD assessment methods are primarily empirical, the objective of this work is to a) develop a general modeling approach and its efficient computational implementation for analysis of such damage, and b) demonstrate developed capabilities of SCD assessments on examples of a representative composite blade. The proposed approach is based on multi-level finite element analysis (FEA) and implementation of cohesive zones to simulate processes of SCD initiation and growth. Computational implementation is considered in detail, and its efficiency and robustness are demonstrated. A systematic parametric study is performed to understand and quantify major trends controlling SCD, such as scenarios of initiation, debonding sizes and locations, and interfacial properties. Generated results can be used in numerous practical engineering applications such as repair-related decisions, service and inspection improvements, and structural and material optimization of rotor blades.
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