Preface to Second Edition

The first edition of this book met with sufficient interest to justify an improved and enhanced second edition. Feedback from the readers of the first edition led to the addition of two new chapters, one on fittings and one with an example design problem of larger structural parts.

The objective of this book is to introduce basic design and analysis methods of composite structures with sufficient theoretical background for the reader to be able to (a) develop his/her own methods for other situations and (b) extend the present methods to improve their accuracy and applicability. Balancing this objective with the need to provide simple design equations is difficult. Invariably, in some areas the theoretical background will appear too extensive while, in other cases, equations are presented without sufficient derivation. In addition, people who have worked on any of the topics in any detail will, probably, complain that some of the approaches are oversimplified.

Trying to satisfy all the anticipated readers in all aspects covered in this book is simply impossible. If I can get about the same number of complaints at the two extremes of too detailed analysis and oversimplified analysis, I will have achieved my goal. After all, I only hope to give some guidelines for approaches I found useful that the reader can build on and apply to his/her own situations.

The changes from the first edition are (a) addition of more exercises in most chapters, (b) addition of the Puck failure criterion in Chapter 4, (c) addition of a chapter (Chapter 11) on analysis of simple fittings and (d) addition of a chapter (Chapter 13) with a detailed case study for designing a fuselage panel with three different design concepts. Furthermore, a diligent attempt was also made to correct typos of the first edition.

Perhaps, the most important and useful feature of this second edition is that it is accompanied by an App. The App is called CoDeAn (Composites Design and Analysis). Most equations and design procedures in the book have been incorporated in CoDeAn in a user-friendly and efficient manner. This allows iPhone and iPad users to perform analyses and design studies at the touch of a button. A material library with easy addition and modification options is available. Classical laminated-plate theory, first ply failure and buckling analysis are already available with this release. Future releases will include the rest of the book.