Evaluation of the Residual Strength of Structures Made of Composite Materials Based on a Conservative Distribution of Damage Parameters

The purpose of this study is to develop the method that conservatively estimates the residual strength of a composite structure with barely visible impact damage (BVID), without direct modelling of impact process. The basis of the research is in the conservative transformation of kinetic energy of impactor into damage of the material, which is associated with the system of microcracks in the matrix, fiber and interface. A special algorithm that distributes damage parameters in worst way for the composite structure provides conservative estimation of residual strength. Thus, bvid allowables can be set using fewer experiments.