Microscale testing and modelling for damage tolerant composite materials and structures

There is a need for damage tolerant composite material for very large engineering structures such as wind turbine rotor blades. The development of improved composite materials with higher damage tolerance will be most efficiently guided by models of the relevant damage modes. Two damage modes are considered in the present paper: Fatigue damage due to in-plane tensile stresses in the fibre direction and cyclic delamination crack growth from a ply drop.

For both failure modes the damage evolution is considered at macro- and microscale. Micromechanical models are used to illustrate how changes in the mechanical properties of fibre, matrix and the fibre/matrix interface can lead to an increased damage tolerance material. Also, micromechanical testing methods for characterizing the relevant micromechanical parameters are discussed.