Combined Impact and Fatigue Loading in CFRP

Effects of the timing of an impact event during cyclic loading of composite aircraft structures

Master thesis (2020)

Authors

C.C.J. van Diën Aerospace Engineering

Contributors

D. Zarouchas Structural Integrity & Composites - Aerospace Engineering (mentor)
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
Copyright: © 2020 Casper van Diën
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Published Date

30-09-2020

Language

English

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Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

This research experimentally investigates the effects of an impact event during fatigue loading of a CFRP structure. Open-hole specimens were impacted in-situ during a short interruption of a tension-tension cyclic loading program. The impact was aimed directly below the central hole, with the critical fatigue damage path being left and right of this hole. A combination of digital image correlation (DIC), acoustic emission (AE) and C-scan measurements was used to measure the material response and damage patterns. The results indicate that while an impact caused the total amount of damage to increase as one would expect, its effect on the damage along the critical path depends on the timing of the impact. Only an impact before fatigue clearly accelerated fatigue damage accumulation leading to a shorter fatigue life. In contrast, impacting specimens at a later moment during fatigue loading had no effect on this critical damage accumulation.