Composites and Dynamic Failures: Experimental and Numerical Solving Strategies and Solutions

Overview & Synopsis

The constraints related to structures design in the field of transportation are increasingly complex in order to comply with safety standards. Composite materials being increasingly widespread within these structures, their behavior must therefore be more accurately mastered. Current numerical tools can now permit an accurate simulation in the static field, but concerning fast transient problems, the available numerical methods are not optimal yet. Starting from concrete cases, this chapter introduces problem solving strategies. A procedure is then presented to improve numerical simulations in the field of rapid dynamics. It includes the establishment of experimental protocols to assist in a thorough understanding of materials behavior. These experimental studies can then provide models, laws and methodologies to better simulate the behavior of composite structures under dynamic load. However experimentation is sometimes complicated by the size of structures. The similitude techniques can then provide a solution. Similitude techniques are used to study composite materials subjected to impact. We propose here an approach allowing modeling and numerical simulation validated on an industrial case.