This paper presents the extension and validation of omni-failure envelopes for first-ply failure (FPF) and last-ply failure (LPF) analysis of advanced composite materials under general three-dimensional (3D) stress states. Phenomenological failure criteria based on invariant structural tensors are implemented to address failure events in multidirectional laminates using the “omni strain failure envelope” concept. This concept enables the generation of safe predictions of FPF and LPF of composite laminates, providing reliable and fast laminate failure indications that can be particularly useful as a design tool for conceptual and preliminary design of composite structures. The proposed extended omni strain failure envelopes allow not only identification of the controlling plies for FPF and LPF, but also of the controlling failure modes. FPF/LPF surfaces for general 3D stress states can be obtained using only the material properties extracted from the unidirectional (UD) material, and can predict membrane FPF or LPF of any laminate independently of lay-up, while considering the effect of out-of-plane stresses. The predictions of the LPF envelopes and surfaces are compared with experimental data on multidirectional laminates from the first and second World-Wide Failure Exercise (WWFE), showing a satisfactory agreement and validating the conservative character of omni-failure envelopes also in the presence of high levels of triaxiality.

Optical-fiber sensors based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) provide accurate, nonintrusive, and reliable remote measurements of temperature, strain, and pressure, and they are immune to electromagnetic interference. FBGs are extensively used in telecommunications, and their manufacture is now cost-effective. As sensors, FBGs find many industrial applications in composite structures used in the civil engineering, aeronautics, train transportation, space, and naval sectors. Tiny FBG sensors embedded in a composite material can provide in situ information about polymer curing (strain, temperature, refractive index) in an elegant and nonintrusive way. Great improvements in composite manufacturing processes such as resin transfer molding (RTM) and resin film infusion (RFI) have been obtained through the use of these sensors. They can also be used in monitoring the “health” of a composite structure and in impact detection to evaluate, for example, the airworthiness of aircraft. Finally, FBGs may be used in instrumentation as composite extensometers or strain rosettes, primarily in civil engineering applications.