Fibrous Composites in Structural Design

The Fourth Conference on Fibrous Composites in Structural Design was a successor to the First-to-Third Conferences on Fibrous Composites in Flight Vehicle Design sponsored by the Air Force (First and Second Conferences, September 1973 and May 1974) and by NASA (Third Conference, November 1975) which were aimed at focusing national attention on flight vehicle applications of a new class of fiber reinforced materials, the advanced com­ posites, which afforded weight savings and other advantages which had not been previously available. The Fourth Conference, held at San Diego, California, 14-17 November 1978, was the fi rst of these conferences to be jointly sponsored by the Army, Navy and Ai r Force together with NASA, as well as being the first to give attention to non-aerospace applications of fiber reinforced composites. While the design technology for aerospace applications has reached a state of relative maturity, other areas of application such as mi litary bridging, flywheel energy storage systems, ship and surface vessel components and ground vehicle components are in an early stage of development, and it was an important objective to pinpoint where careful attention to structural design was needed in such applications to achfeve maximum structural performance payoff together with a high level of reliability and attractive economics.

Comments on the Status of Composite Structures Technology.- Session I Aircraft Structures.- Composite Aircraft Structures.- Composite Wing Substructure Technology on the AV-8B Advanced Aircraft.- Preliminary Design Development AV-8E Forward Fuselage Composite Structure.- Wing Fuselage Critical Component Development Program.- Development of a Preloaded Hybrid Advanced Composite Wing Pivot Fairing.- Design Concepts for Composite Fuselage Structure.- Advanced Composites Integral Structures Meet the Challenge of Future Aircraft Systems.- Session II Missile and Space Applications.- Organic Matrix Composite Application to Missile Structure.- Advanced Composite Satellite Equipment Support Module Study.- Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) Advanced Composite Structure.- Development and Fabrication of Graphite Polyimide Launch Vehicle Structures.- Continuous Filament Advanced Composite Isogrid: A Promising Structural Concept.- Session III Crashworthiness, Impact Damage, Post Buckling and Dynamics Response.- A Crashworthiness Test for Composite Fuselage Structure.- Recent Developments in the Design, Testing and Impact-Damage Tolerance of Stiffened Composite Panels.- Impact Resistance of Graphite and Hybrid Configurations.- Design of Stiffened Composite Panels in the Post-Buckling Range.- Dynamic Stability of Fibrous Composite Cylinders.- Session IV Special Design Considerations.- Effects of Lightning and Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse on an Advanced Composites Aircraft.- Problems and Options in Advanced Composite Repair.- A Cad Approach to Cost Estimating Composite Aircraft.- Session V Laminate Plate Theories, Edge Effects, Flaw Growth.- Evaluation of a Hybrid-Stress Formulation for Thick Multilayer Laminates 399.- The Effect of Interlaminar Stresses on Composite Flywheel Design.- Interlaminar Stress Gradients and Impact Damage.- An Analytical and Experimental Investigation of Edge Delamination in Composite Laminates.- Serviceability of Composites Surface Damages.- Prediction of Cyclic Growth of Cracks and Debonds in Aluminum Sheets Reinforced with Boron/Epoxy.- Session VI Helicopter Applications.- Application of Advanced Composite Materials to Helicopter Airframe Structures.- Design and Production of Fiberglass Helicopter Rotor Blades.- Preliminary Design of an Advanced Composite Rotor Hub for the UH-60A Black Hawk.- Evaluation of Graphite/Epoxy Shims in a High Capacity Laminate Helicopter Bearing.- Session VII Composite Joints.- Mechanically-Fastened Joints for Advanced Composites — Phenomenological Considerations and Simple Analysis.- On the Structural Behavior of Mechanically Fastened Joints in Composite Structures.- Design of the Spar Wingskin Joint.- Sensitivity of Bonded and Bolted Joints in Composites to Load/Environmental Spectrum Variations.- Composite Fasteners — A Compatible Joining Technique for Fibrous Composites in Structural Design.- Session VIII Other Applications.- Development of an Advanced Composite Hydrofoil Control Flap.- Cost-Effective Application of Advanced Composites to Hydrofoil Structures.- Graphite Composite Box Beams for U.S. Army Mobile Bridging.- Advancements in Composite Material Flywheels.- Can Advanced Composite Materials Really Compete in the Automotive Market?.- Retrofit Hardening of Electronic Shelters with Composite Panels.- Session IX Reliability/Durability Analysis.- Statistical Analysis Methods for Characterizing Composite Materials.- Durability Evaluation of Highly Stressed Wing Box Structure.- Codstran: Composite Durability Structural Analysis.- Session X Environmental Effects.- Environmental Effects on the Mechanical Behavior of AS/3501-6 Material.- The Kinetics of Moisture Diffusion in Three Advanced Composite Epoxy Resin Matrix Material Systems.- Effects of Varying Hygrothermal Environments on Moisture Absorption in Exposy Composites.- Moisture Expansion and Thermal Expansion Coefficients of a Polymer-Matrix Composite Material.- Growth of Four Flaw Types in Graphite/Epoxy Composites Due to Fully Reversed Fatigue.- Effects of Defects on Tension Coupons Undergoing an Accelerated Environmental Spectrum.