Mechanics of Composite Materials: Past, Present, and Future

TLDR

Composite mechanics spans multiple levels of sophistication and application scales, with a focus on fiber/resin composites derived from two decades of NASA Lewis Research Center research. The paper reviews where composite mechanics has been, what it has achieved, its current trajectory, and proposes future directions. The authors evaluate methods by their correlation with experimental data, illustrating this with typical examples across disciplines to assess success and remaining challenges. The analysis shows varying degrees of success in correlating models with experiments and highlights persistent problems in the field.

Abstract

Composite mechanics disciplines are presented and described at their various levels of sophistication and attendant scales of application. Correlation with experimental data is used as the prime discriminator between alternative methods and level of sophistication. Major emphasis is placed on (1) where composite mechanics has been; (2) what it has accomplished; (3) where it is headed, based on present research activities; and (4) at the risk of being presumptuous, where it should be headed. The discussion is developed using selected, but typical, examples of each composite mechanics discipline identifying degree of success, with respect to correlation with experimental data, and problems remaining. The discussion is centered about fiber/resin composites drawn mainly from the author's research activities and experience spanning two decades at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center.