Composite material systems are the basis for much of the natural world around us and are rapidly becoming the basis for many modern engineering components. A controlling feature for the general use of such systems is their damage tolerance, durability and reliability. The present book is a comprehensive cross section of the state of the art in the field of the durability of polymer-based, composite, and adhesive systems. As such, it is of special value to researchers concerned with the frontier of the field, to students concerned with the substance of the subject, and to the applied community concerned with the finding methodologies that make it possible to design safe and durable engineering components using material systems.

The papers from these proceedings address experimental and analytical methods for the characterization and analysis of modern composite and adhesive systems. They have been produced to provide understanding that can be used to design safe, reliable engineering components.

This proceedings covers the general problem related to the damage initiation and development, the failure criteria and the specific aspects related to fatigue, creep behaviour, moisture diffusion and the problem of the joining systems.

The aim of the book is to give a clear picture of some new modern trends in composite mechanics and to give a presentation of the current state-of-the-art of the theory and application of composite laminates. The book addresses the basics as well as recent developments in the theory of laminates and their effective properties, the problem of testing and identification of properties, strength, damage, and failure of composite laminates, lightweight construction principles, optimization techniques, the generation of smart structures, and a number of special technical aspects (e.g. stress localization), their modelling and analysis. The intention of the book is to provide deeper understanding, to give mathematical and algorithmic techniques for analysis, simulation and optimization and to link various aspects of composite mechanics as necessary to exploit the full potential that is possible for composite structures.

This book describes recent research findings on response and integrity of thick section composite and sandwich structures. In particular, it deals with these structures for marine applications under static and dynamic loads such as shock and slamming loads in severe sea environment including sea water, temperature extremes, hydrostatic pressure and Arctic conditions. Three-dimensional constitutive equations and failure criteria for structural response and integrity are considered. The book serves as an excellent repository of major advances in research on response and integrity of composite and sandwich structures made through research grants sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research in the past decade. Collects major advances in response and integrity research; Emphasizes phenomena within severe environments; Illustrates underwater fluid-structure interactions, shock/blast loads, and slamming loads.

This major handbook is the first authoritative survey of current knowledge of fatigue behaviour of composites. It deals in detail with a wide range of problems met by designers in the automotive, marine and structural engineering industries. Compiled from the contributions of some of the best-known researchers in the field, it provides an invaluable, practical and encyclopaedic handbook covering recent developments. - Comprehensively discusses the problems of fatigue in composites met by designers in the aerospace, marine and structural engineering industries - Provides a general introduction on fatigue in composites before reviewing current research on micromechanical aspects - Analyses various types of composites with respect to fatigue behaviour and testing and provides in-depth coverage of life-prediction models for constant variable stresses

Highlights the recent developments in the fundamental understanding of composites; important information for researchers and composite scientists.

Ageing of composites is a highly topical subject given the increasing use of composites in structural applications in many industries. Ageing of composites addresses many of the uncertainties about the long-term performance of composites and how they age under conditions encountered in service.The first part of the book reviews processes and modelling of composite ageing including physical and chemical ageing of polymeric composites, ageing of glass-ceramic matrix composites, chemical ageing mechanisms, stress corrosion cracking, thermo-oxidative ageing, spectroscopy of ageing composites, modelling physical and accelerated ageing and ageing of silicon carbide composites. Part two examines ageing of composites in transport applications including aircraft, vehicles and ships. Part three reviews ageing of composites in non-transport applications such as implants in medical devices, oil and gas refining, construction, chemical processing and underwater applications.With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, Ageing of composites is a valuable reference guide for composite manufacturers and developers. It also serves as a source of information for material scientists, designers and engineers in industries that use composites, including transport, chemical processing and medical engineering. - Addresses many of the uncertainties about the long-term performance of composites and how they age under conditions encountered in service - Reviews processes and modelling of composite ageing including chemical ageing mechanisms and stress corrosion cracking - Discusses ageing of composites in both transport and non-transport applications ranging from aircraft to implants in medical devices

Multi-scale modelling of composites is a very relevant topic in composites science. This is illustrated by the numerous sessions in the recent European and International Conferences on Composite Materials, but also by the fast developments in multi-scale modelling software tools, developed by large industrial players such as Siemens (Virtual Material Characterization toolkit and MultiMechanics virtual testing software), MSC/e-Xstream (Digimat software), Simulia (micromechanics plug-in in Abaqus), HyperSizer (Multi-scale design of composites), Altair (Altair Multiscale Designer) This book is intended to be an ideal reference on the latest advances in multi-scale modelling of fibre-reinforced polymer composites, that is accessible for both (young) researchers and end users of modelling software. We target three main groups: This book aims at a complete introduction and overview of the state-of-the-art in multi-scale modelling of composites in three axes: • ranging from prediction of homogenized elastic properties to nonlinear material behaviour • ranging from geometrical models for random packing of unidirectional fibres over meso-scale geometries for textile composites to orientation tensors for short fibre composites • ranging from damage modelling of unidirectionally reinforced composites over textile composites to short fibre-reinforced composites The book covers the three most important scales in multi-scale modelling of composites: (i) micro-scale, (ii) meso-scale and (iii) macro-scale. The nano-scale and related atomistic and molecular modelling approaches are deliberately excluded, since the book wants to focus on continuum mechanics and there are already a lot of dedicated books about polymer nanocomposites. A strong focus is put on physics-based damage modelling, in the sense that the chapters devote attention to modelling the different damage mechanisms (matrix cracking, fibre/matrix debonding, delamination, fibre fracture,...) in such a way that the underlying physics of the initiation and growth of these damage modes is respected. The book also gives room to not only discuss the finite element based approaches for multi-scale modelling, but also much faster methods that are popular in industrial software, such as Mean Field Homogenization methods (based on Mori-Tanaka and Eshelby solutions) and variational methods (shear lag theory and more advanced theories). Since the book targets a wide audience, the focus is put on the most common numerical approaches that are used in multi-scale modelling. Very specialized numerical methods like peridynamics modelling, Material Point Method, eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM), isogeometric analysis, SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics),... are excluded. Outline of the book The book is divided in three large parts, well balanced with each a similar number of chapters:

"Advances in FRP Composites in Civil Engineering" contains the papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites in Civil Engineering in 2010, which is an official conference of the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC). The book includes 7 keynote papers which are presented by top professors and engineers in the world and 203 papers covering a wide spectrum of topics. These important papers not only demonstrate the recent advances in the application of FRP composites in civil engineering, but also point to future research endeavors in this exciting area. Researchers and professionals in the field of civil engineering will find this book is exceedingly valuable. Prof. Lieping Ye and Dr. Peng Feng both work at the Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, China. Qingrui Yue is a Professor at China Metallurgical Group Corporation.