Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

No structure is indestructible. Time, environment, repeated use, and misuse all take their toll on everyday structures, taking advantage of their inherent weaknesses and bringing them closer to failure. To combat this risk in the aerospace industry, the structural design philosophy known as Damage Tolerance is employed. In this philosophy, structures are designed to sustain large levels of damage, and regular inspections are carried out to detect and repair damage before it exceeds the capability of the structure. Central to this philosophy is the need for a deep understanding of the failure and degradation processes so that appropriate inspection intervals can be prescribed.Modern aerospace structures are becoming increasingly complex. The application of advanced hybrid materials, composite materials, and adhesive bonding provide opportunities for performance gains and weight savings; however, their complexity introduces new failure mechanisms that are less understood than their predecessors, leading to the need to overdesign. Improving our understanding of damage evolution in such modern structures would reduce the need for overdesign, allowing further optimization and maintaining safety.This research program aims to study and develop prediction methodologies for damage growth and interaction in bonded metal-composite laminates known as FMLs (Fibre Metal Laminates). FMLs exhibit many of the complex damage mechanisms seen in other bonded, hybrid, and composite structures, but on a scale more easily observed and studied. Improving our understanding of damage growth and interaction in all of these advance structures will facilitate their optimization, improving weight savings and safety of future aircraft.