Experimental Validation of a Fatigue Simulation Model for Fiber Reinforced Composites

The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the experimental activity that revolved around the characterization of Fiber Reinforced Composites and the validation of a Finite Element Model used to simulate their behavior. A testing procedure was outlined together with a data acquisition strategy and the processing of the obtained data. The whole research activity was carried out inside the DARC (Dallara Advanced composite Research Center) facilities. The main phases of the activity were the following: • Case of study selection: A component was chosen to find a meaningful application of the study. In this case a Front Wing mainplane pillar was chosen and special specimens have been designed and produced to recall its loading conditions. • Experimental procedure design and planning: The whole activity was designed in accordance with the research objectives. Both the physical rig and the procedure were outlined to allow the acquisition of the necessary data and the correct application of the load case. • Configuration of the Simulation: The case of study was analyzed through DIC empirical data to configure the simulations and emulate as well as possible the real experiment. • Data analysis and simulation model validation: The acquired data was processed to distill all the meaningful information and to perform some considerations on the behavior of Fiber Reinforced Composites under fatigue loads and to verify the correlation between the simulated and real cases.