Impact Analysis of Embedded Delamination Location in Hybrid Curved Laminated Composite Stiffened Panel

Modern, aero structures are predominantly of curved construction characterized by a skin and stiffeners. The latest generation of large passenger aircraft also uses mostly composite material in their primary structure and there is trend towards the utilization of bonding of subcomponents. The presence of delamination is a major problem in composite laminated panels and so, it is of great concern to both the academic and aeronautical industrial worlds Indeed delamination can strongly affect the material strength and, sometimes, can cause their breaking up in service. A Pre-damaged configuration is loaded to study the delamination location and mode for delamination initiation and propagation. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effect of the location of the delamination propagation when delamination is embedded inbetween plies of the skin-stiffener interface, with the cases i) delamination located at front and inbetween plies of the skin-stiffener interface ii) delamination located in middle and inbetween plies of the skin-stiffener interface iii) delamination located at the end and inbetween plies of the skin- stiffener interface. Further the influence of the location of the delamination on load carrying capacity of the panel is investigated. The effect of location of debonds on crack growth and collapse behavior is analyzed using analysis tool. An analysis tool is applied that includes an approach for predicting interlaminar damage initiation and interlaminar damage growth as well as in-plane damage mechanisms to predict the design of defect free panel.