Structural testing
Marine applications of composite materials - Case of competition sailboats

Various standards are available for characterizing composite materials (ASTM, ISO, etc., see [Doc. AM 5 655] ).

Although these tests are standardized, they are generally carried out on small specimens and provide results that can be significantly altered by the boundary conditions applied to the specimen. In addition, various factors can lead to poor specimen representativeness. Given the geometry of structures, it is generally difficult to obtain a specimen with dimensions compatible with standards without using means (machining, etc.) that can significantly affect material behavior. Phenomena such as residual stresses due to manufacturing, fiber misalignment, inhomogeneity of fiber volume ratio in thickness, gradient of cross-linking kinetics, cannot generally...