Robust design – A concept for imperfection insensitive composite structures

Robust design is a philosophy that aims to ensure that a structure will be tolerant to unknown variations and imperfections. This is an important consideration as highly optimised critical structures are required to survive unexpected loading and operating conditions. In some ways, robust design appears to be similar to damage tolerant design but its application to aerospace structural design is neither well established nor understood. In order to demonstrate the differences between the two concepts, a stiffened composite panel has been analysed for damage tolerance and robustness properties. Damage tolerance has been studied experimentally with the panel subjected to impact damage. The effect of laminate stacking sequence on the robustness of the panel has been assessed using finite element analysis and a Robust Index applied to quantify the robustness. The differences between designs are discussed together with the possible future directions for robust design applied to aerospace composite structures.