Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/K57466/01
Title:	COMPOSITES REPAIR: FAILURE OF CFRP PLATES WITH INCLUSIONS BY FIBRE BUCKLING AND OTHER MODES.
Principal Investigator:	Soutis, Professor C
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Aeronautics
Organisation:	Imperial College London
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 February 1995	Ends:	30 November 1997	Value (£):	146,323
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Aerospace, Defence and Marine
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Composite materials are attractive to the aircraft industry because of their high specific stiffness and strengths. Carbon fibre-epoxy laminates for instance, have been successfully used in light and medium-loaded secondary structures on commercial and military aircraft and current investigations are considering the use of these laminates for heavy leaded structures such as wings and fuselages. However, the inherently brittle nature of composites makes them susceptible to damage caused by impact. Consequently it has been necessary to develop repair methods in order that costly components are not scrapped due to in-service damage. Current repair concepts include a wide range of approaches from highly refined and structurally efficient by expensive flush patch repairs to the external mechanically attached metal patch. In all these repair methods one of the main concerns is the prediction of strength of the repaired laminate. The proposed study will examine the compressive behaviour of CFRP plates with inclusions. This is an idealised case which simulates a situation where the damaged laminate has been repaired by drilling a hole then plugging the hole with reinforcement. This is a crucial step towards investigation of more sophisticated repair methods. Guidelines to select an appropriate material for the inclusion and strength prediction models will be developed.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.imperial.ac.uk