ME 7775: Topics in Fracture and Fatigue of Metallic and Composite Structures
Offered as Required

Credit Hours: 3-0-3
Prerequisite: AE 2120 or ME 2211 
Catalog Description: Brittle and ductile fracture criteria. Failure prediction in composite structures. Free-edge and internal delamination. Anisotropic cracks. Fatigue behavior of composites and comparison with metal fatigue. Crosslisted with AE, CHE, and MSE 7775.
Textbook: R. L. Carlson and G. A. Kardomateas, An Introduction to Fatigue in Metals and Composites; First Edition, Chapman and Hall, London, 1995.
Instructors: George Kardomateas (AE), Ramesh Talreja (AE), David McDowell (ME), Richard Neu (ME), Steve Johnson (MSE), Wan-Lee Yin (CE)

Topics:

1. Basic concepts in Fracture Mechanics
a. brittle and ductile fracture criteria
b. scales in fracture mechanics treatments
c. failure prediction in multilayer composites.
2. Free-Edge Delamination in Composites
a. interlaminar normal and shear edge stresses
b. initiation of free-edge delamination
c. effects on fatigue loading.
3. Internal Delaminations in Composites
a. delamination buckling
b. prediction of monotonic and fatigue growth.
4. Cracks in Anisotropic Materials
a. Riemann-Hilbert complex variable approach
b. stress intensity factors and displacement fields
c. symmetric, plane skew-symmetric and longitudinal shear.
5. New Micro-Mechanical Models
a. fiber bridging models in composites
b. discrete asperity models in metals.
6. Fracture and Fatigue Control in Structural Design and Maintenance
a. safe-life, fail-safe and damage-tolerant design
b. structural integrity case studies.
c. Damage tolerance analysis and certification procedures

Computer Usage: None

Laboratory Projects: None

 

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Revised July 2004