Structural Integrity and Durability of Advanced Composites

Preface

Since the discovery and public announcement of carbon fibre 50 years ago only to be followed within 5 years by the dramatic failure of the carbon fibre compressor blades of the Rolls-Royce RB211 engine during impact by ‘bird strike’ under maximum load, there has been a plethora of papers published in a growing number of journals and books on a variety of aspects of composite materials behaviour and design methods of composite structures. But remarkably few (in percentage terms) have provided in-depth understanding of why composite materials fail and structures collapse over a spectrum of industrial applications and public sectors. In scientific terms, there has not been a thorough quantitative formulation of the relationships that connect ...