Environmental Durability of Composite Materials – Analytical Modelling Toolbox

Abstract

Environmental durability is highly important for fibre reinforced polymer composite materials in marine and offshore applications, especially the long-term behaviour. Typically, a design lifetime of offshore composite structures spans 25 years at the least, being in direct contact with water and continuously weakening the material. Understanding and modelling the extent of such material deterioration in water is of great importance for both users and designers of the composite structures offshore. This work attempts to systematize recently developed state-of-the-art analytical modelling tools into a toolbox for predicting environmental durability of composite materials. This methodology is modular, which can and should be further expanded in the joint future pursuits. The methodology is useful for scientists and the industry alike, for purposes of accelerated testing, as well as for predicting environmental durability and the time-dependent properties of composites due to environmental ageing.