New advances in damage mechanics and computational methods for composites:from research to industry for spatial applications

Previously, solid propulsion developments were based on experiments. In the current environment of constant reduction in costs and development/qualifi cation periods, this approach is no longer viable. Thus, modeling is imposs ible to circumvent for acceptable margins. Today, most mechanical models ar e developed in university laboratories and their industrial use is not easy due to their implementation in industrial finite element codes, the model robustness, the parameter identification and especially its use, and the an alysis of results, These various topics will be successively examined and r eal examples will show the efforts already made to achieve cost reduction. Lastly, we will try to list the shortcomings of the current methods in orde r to identify the directions for future progress. (C) 2001 Published by Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.