Onera, World Champion in Fracture Prediction
During the World Wide Failure Exercise II contest, devoted to the prediction of fractures in composite structures under 3D stress, Onera obtained the best results among the twelve guest international laboratories.
The results of this contest, published in the journal Journal of Composite Materials in March 2013, greatly contribute to the reputation of the winning laboratory, as shown by the previous edition (WWFE I). This public evaluation is very much appreciated by manufacturers, who take it into account when choosing their simulation tools.
Fracture in a multi-perforated composite plate,
corresponding to the test case of the WWFE 2 exercise.
Moreover, such an assessment can redefine the quality and accuracy of the forecasting tools developed by applied research centers, such as ONERA, compared to some more commercial and insufficiently validated tools.
The "winning" model by Onera is currently being used in an internal version of the ZéBuLoN solid mechanics simulation platform (ONERA - Ecole des Mines de Paris). A simplified version was included in the Abaqus finite element package for use by certain Airbus consultants. Integration of the full version into the Abaqus code is envisaged, in order to extend its use to industrial composite applications.
Contact : Frédéric Laurin, DMSC
Réferences
F. Laurin, N. Carrere and J.-F. Maire, ONERA/DMSC, Approche hybride multiéchelle pour l'analyse de la tenue de structures composites sous sollicitations complexes 3D, 16èmes Journées Nationales sur les Composites, Toulouse, 10-12 juin 2009
MJ Hinton, AS Kaddour, Qinetiq, UK, The background to the Second World-Wide Failure Exercise, Journal of Composite Materials September 2012 vol. 46 no. 19-20 2283-2294