Structural Integrity and Durability of Advanced Composites

Structural Integrity and Durability of Advanced Composites: Innovative Modelling Methods and Intelligent Design presents scientific and technological research from leading composite materials scientists and engineers that showcase the fundamental issues and practical problems that affect the development and exploitation of large composite structures. As predicting precisely where cracks may develop in materials under stress is an age old mystery in the design and building of large-scale engineering structures, the burden of testing to provide "fracture safe design" is imperative. Readers will learn to transfer key ideas from research and development to both the design engineer and end-user of composite materials. This comprehensive text provides the information users need to understand deformation and fracture phenomena resulting from impact, fatigue, creep, and stress corrosion cracking and how these phenomena can affect reliability, life expectancy, and the durability of structures.

Dr Peter Beaumont is Reader in Engineering Materials at the Engineering Department in the University of Cambridge. Over several decades, Dr Beaumont has researched the relation between structure and properties of engineering materials especially composite materials, polymers and ceramic systems. His research has led to a new formulation of the principles of damage mechanics of composite materials for which he received the Distinguished Research Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has published extensively on the structure and properties of composite materials, polymers and ceramics, and he is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of international journal Applied Composite Materials. Professor Soutis is Chair of Aeorspace Engineering, Director of the Aeorspace Research Institute and director of the Northwest Composites Centre (NCCEF) at Manchester University. Prof. Alma Hodzic is Professor in Advanced Materials Technologies at the University of Sheffield, and Editor-in-Chief for Advanced Manufacturing: Polymer and Composites Science.