Experimental Investigation of Damage Resistance and Damage Tolerance of Composite Materials

摘要

The project included three lines of investigation, aimed at a better understanding of the damage resistance and damage tolerance of pultruded composites. The three lines of investigation were: (i) measurement of permanent dent depth after transverse indentation at different load levels, and correlation with other damage parameters such as damage area (from x-radiography) and back surface crack length, (ii) estimation of point stress and average stress characteristic dimensions corresponding to measured damage parameters, and (iii) an attempt to measure the damage area by a reflection photoelastic technique. All the three lines of investigation were pursued and the results are summarized below.