The Reliability Design of Advanced Composite Materials

Dear Colleagues

Generally, material properties, such as static strength and fatigue life, are random variables and, thus, are usually stated in terms of mean values with attached uncertainties. Although composite materials offer the possibility of tailoring material properties for a particular application, their strength is widely distributed or uncertain, as compared with homogeneous materials, because of the inherent inhomogeneity of their microstructure. Mechanical, thermal, and chemical influences from fabrication processes and acquired conditions including aged deterioration also affect the uncertainty. The same goes for material properties other than strength. Thus, the strength reliability of composite materials must be accurately assessed at the design phase. To this end, it is vital to develop stochastic and statistical methods for describing the probabilistic nature of the strength of composite materials. This will require consideration of strength expression mechanism at microscale, manufacturing defects, and damage progression due to mechanical/thermal load in use. It is also vital to familiarise the application of reliability methods to the optimal design of composite materials.

This Special Issue welcomes diverse submissions related to the reliability design of composite materials, ranging from the experimental characterisation of various uncertainties that composite materials include to reliability assessment methods for structures made of composite materials.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ryoichi Chiba
Guest Editor

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