Effects of material property variation in composite panels

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine which of the ten material properties of the Hashin progressive damage model significantly affect the maximum load-carrying ability of center-notched carbon fiber panels under in-plane tension and out-of-plane bending.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach used is to calculate the maximum load using a finite element model for a range of material property values as specified by a fraction factorial design. The finite element model used has been experimentally validated in prior work.

Findings

Results showed that for the laminates considered, at most three and as few as one of the ten Hashin material properties significantly affected the magnitude of the maximum load.

Practical implications

While the results of this paper only specifically apply to the laminates included in the study, the results suggest that, in general, only a small number of the Hashin material properties affect laminate load-carrying ability.

Originality/value

Knowing which properties are significant is of value in selecting materials to optimize performance and also in determining which properties need to be known to a high accuracy.

Citation

Wright, T., Hyder, I., Daniels, M., Kim, D. and Parmigiani, J.P. (2017), "Effects of material property variation in composite panels", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 89 No. 2, pp. 274-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-10-2014-0177