Predicting Impact Damage for Carbon Composite Propeller Certification: Using ASTM D7136 and quasi-static testing to predict component impact damage.

During this research, a new approach to predict impact damage was evaluated using the PAL-V Liberty’s propeller blade as the test subject. The purpose of this research was to provide a simple method for impact damage prediction which will support the certification activities of the PAL-V propeller.<br/>This method involves conducting a threat...

Compression after impact fatigue damage growth in CFRP – what does no-growth really mean?

Impacts on carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRP) can produce a complex internal damage comprising multiple delaminations, which is hard to detect from visual inspection. This situation is known as barely visible impact damage (BVID). Considering that every airplane faces several impacts during its operational life, and that the majority of...

Investigating apparent plateau phases in fatigue after impact damage growth in CFRP with ultrasound scan and acoustic emissions

In previous literature, a plateau phase in fatigue growth of impact delamination projected area in CFRP was found. Explaining this plateau phase still represents a knowledge gap. In the present work, echo-pulse and through thickness transmission ultrasonic scan inspections were combined with acoustic emission monitoring to explain this...

Image analysis for classification of damaged and undamaged areas on composite structures

Composite materials are susceptible to barely visible impact damages (BVID) due to low-velocity impact. Therefore, an automated damage detection and quantification technique is highly desirable for quick inspection of large number of composite structures. Among various different non-destructive techniques (NDTs), active thermography NDT can...

Structural health monitoring of impact damage for composite aircraft structures: Investigating the damage severity estimation of an image reconstruction technique using PZT sensors

The high specific strength and stiffness of composite materials have resulted in a widespread introduction of composite structures in the commercial aviation industry. Although composite materials offer the possibility to design lightweight structures, they also suffer from complex failure modes of which damage progression is badly understood....