To give students a good understanding of design practice in composite aerospace structures To provide understanding of composite manufacturing processes To provide an understanding of material and structural performance relationships To give a broad understanding of principles and techniques of composite stress analysis, strength and service durability predictions of composite aerospace structures To develop knowledge of the basics of impact damage, damage tolerance in composite aerospace structures To provide an understanding of the selection criteria and design considerations for use of composite materials in spacecraft structures

- Polymer composite materials - basic description of structure and characteristics- comparison with traditional metals - Mechanical characterisation techniques for basic property measurement - Mechanics of fibre reinforced laminates- stress analysis- prediction of stiffness and strength calculation techniques - Impact damage on polymer composites and compression after impact strength - Damage initiation and growth in composites - damage tolerance of composite aerospace structures - Design issues in composite aerospace structures - examples from recent large civil and military aircraft, as well as spacecraft - Composite aerospace structure inspection and repair - Certification approaches and continued airworthiness in composite aerospace structures - Material selection and design criteria for composite structures in spacecraft

On successful completion of this module students will be able to: - Understand the advantages and disadvantages of using composite materials in a range of structural applications (written exam) - Understand how mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced composite materials are determined and their significance (laboratory work/written exam) - Conduct structural analysis of representative composite aerospace structures (written exam) - Understand the advantages and disadvantages of different composite processing techniques when designing for manufacture (laboratory work/written exam) - Understand different composite aerospace structure inspection techniques and their role in designing structures for continued airworthiness (laboratory work/written exam) - Assess the validity of the use of different composite materials in spacecraft structures (written exam)

- Students will appreciate damage tolerance of composite aerospace structures and its importance in structural design philosophies: fail-safe versus safe-life - Students will demonstrate their ability to design composite structural elements to deal with a variety of loading scenarios using a holistic approach to material selection, manufacturing considerations and structural analysis (written exam) - Students will build confidence in utilizing solid mechanics theory equations for the analysis of real composite structures (written exam)

- Students will be able to work within a team to produce a composite laminates and structural components (laboratory work)

Lectures, tutorials and laboratory exercises will be used for the students to acquire the learning outcomes. Leading edge aerospace composite structures research will be embedded in the syllabus, particularly in relation to new inspection and material processing developments, to enhance the student experience. UL has significant experience in this field of research. The module is aligned to the following UL graduate attributes: Knowledgeable: Students will apply their materials and mechanics of solids knowledge to structural analysis of fibre-reinforced composite components. Proactive/Creative: Students will design innovative composite components to meet an assignment specification to be manufactured as part of laboratory activity. Responsible/Collaborative: Laboratory design and practical work will be carried out as part of a design team. Each team member is responsible for contributing to the team design goal to ensure that assessment targets are met. Articulate: Design team members will be required to communicate effectively with one another to achieve their team goals. Output from the team laboratory activity will be disseminated in a jointly written report, requiring effective written input from each team member.