RAJAPAKSE, Yapa D. S.
Solid Mechanics Program
Office of Naval Research
Arlington, VA - USA
Yapa_Rajapakse@onr.navy.mil; Rajapay@onr.navy.mil

Abstract
Composite materials are being used increasingly in marine structures. These special sessions are devoted to recent advances in research dealing with deformation, damage, and failure in marine composites and composite sandwich structures. The focus is on polymer matrix glass and carbon vinylester composites, and on sandwich structures with these composites as face sheets and foam and balsa wood cores. Topics covered include environmental effects, failure modes, failure criteria, dynamic response, and structural effects.

GETTU, Ravindra
Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
Barcelona - Spain
Ravindra.Gettu@upc.es

Abstract
The failure behavior of composites and interfaces between different components of a composite is often analyzed from a global perspective. However, this approach neglects the fracture characteristics that originate from the composite action, limiting its applicability. Recent work has led to advances in the fracture analysis of the nonlinear behavior of composites which lead to a better understanding of the material and its structural performance. The analysis of the behavior of different types of structural composites will be considered in this session. Due to the participation of experts from different fields, interesting discussions are anticipated.