PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE STATE-OF-THE-ART AND FUTURE-DIRECTION OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

This article summarizes the discussion of a panel: 'On State of the Ar t and Future Directions of High-Temperature Composite Structures, ASME Summer Annual Meeting, Columbus, Ohio, 18 June 1991. The panel object ive was a joint industry/academia/government perspective on: where are we, what are the inhibiting factors, and what is needed for rapid pro gress? Topics addressed include computational simulation versus tradit ional approaches, reliance on computational simulation versus testing, computational simulation of material processing and/or fabrication, d esign perspective, technology base, interdisciplinary, coengineering, probabilistic description of uncertainties, educating future researche rs, government/industry/academia roles, and competitive advantage cons iderations. Select panel conclusions are: (1) increase use of computat ional simulation, (2) include material and fabrication process in the simulation, (3) apply probabilistic assessments to quantify uncertaint ies and minimize testing throughout the design/qualification/certifica tion cycles, and (4) mandate closer cooperation among industry, academ ia and government.