On the behavior of thin walled composite beams with stochastic properties under matrix cracking damage

Thin walled composite beam structures are prone to damage which results in change in the performance of these structures. The change in the performance due to damage may get confused with the variation in the performance due uncertainties in the properties of these structures. Here, the performances of the thin walled composite beam under matrix cracking damage having material uncertainties are studied. The cross-sectional stiffness properties are obtained using thin walled beam formulation, which is based on a mixed force and displacement method. The stochastic behaviors of material properties are obtained from previous experimental and analytical studies. The effects of matrix cracking are introduced through the changes in the extension, extension–bending and bending matrices of composites. The effects of matrix cracking on out-of-plane bending, inplane bending and torsion cross-sectional properties are studied at different crack densities for stochastic material properties. Further, the effects of matrix cracking and uncertainties on measurable properties such as deflections and frequencies are studied. Results show that the beam responses at different crack densities get mixed due to the material uncertainties. The estimates of variance obtained for observable system properties due to uncertainty can be used for developing more robust damage detection algorithms.