Denis Dalli

Project objectives:

To develop and standardise experimental characterisation techniques for obtaining the energy absorption of composite materials.
To explore the use of sustainable flax fibre composite materials in crashworthiness applications.
To improve the accuracy and robustness of macro-scale numerical modelling tools for the design of better composite crash structures.

Project outcomes:

Significantly improved experimental setups for dynamic crush testing of various coupon geometries.
Successful demonstration of the potential use of flax fibre composites in crash structures.
An objective geometry-dependent discretisation methodology that improves the accuracy and robustness of numerical predictions from Finite Element crash structure models.

Project overview:

The transport sector is currently facing global economic uncertainty, tough market competition, stringent EU emission and efficiency targets, increased vehicle occupant safety requirements, and pollution and safety scandals which have damaged its reputation. These factors require engineers to increasingly adopt the use of composite materials, to come up with cheaper, safer, and more environmentally friendly solutions. However, even if these materials enable the production of light energy-efficient vehicles, most carbon fibre composites are expensive, and thus the majority of their current applications are limited to the aerospace and motorsport industries. Furthermore, conventional composites have a high manufacturing carbon footprint, and they are typically non-recyclable at the end of life of the components. Natural fibre composites (NFCs) are now being used in the automotive industry, as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly option to conventional carbon fibre composites, albeit limited to non-safety critical components, due to their poorer mechanical performance. The TEMPEST research programme aims to explore the possibility of using a novel NFC material offering improved mechanical performance (developed by partner organisation Bcomp) in safety-critical structural components. Furthermore, by collaborating with McLaren Racing, who have been developing composite crash structures for over two decades, the project aims to advance on the current state-of-the-art in the fields of experimental and numerical crashworthiness, all the while trying to reduce the carbon footprint of such structures. The project also draws on the resources and experience of Instron's drop tower R&D department in the development of improved dynamic crush testing for composite materials. Furthermore, the FIA is also contributing to the project, overseeing and guiding the development of the experimental and numerical work, with the aim of providing the motorsport and automotive industries with new data and proven methodologies for improving the design of composite crash structures.

The official project page can be found at: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101038082. The project repository can be found at: https://zenodo.org/communities/tempest

Peer-reviewed publications

D. Dalli, F. Danzi, P.J. Silva Campos, A. Arteiro, P.P. Camanho. (2023) On the use of the Combined Loading Compression fixture to estimate the intralaminar compressive fracture toughness of composites. Eng Fract Mech, 289; 109444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2023.109444.

F. Danzi, P.J. Silva Campos, A. Arteiro, D. Dalli, C. Furtado, J. Chevalier, R.P. Tavares, F. Lani, P.P. Camanho. (2023) Longitudinal failure mechanisms and crack resistance curves of unidirectional thermoplastic composites. Eng Fract Mech, 282; 109147. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.engfracmech.2023.109147.

D. Dalli, L.F. Varandas, T. Scalici, A. Arteiro, G. Catalanotti. (2023) Exploiting intrinsic size effect to overcome specimen scaling limitations in fracture toughness characterisation of composite materials. Eng Fract Mech, 277; 108951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2022.108951.

Conference presentations and proceedings

D. Dalli, Arteiro A., Moreira D., Almeida J., Silva Campos P.J., Danzi F., Foster S., Tronci G., Calzolari A., Vigna L., “Incorporating the effects of curvature and inclination on composite energy absorption in macroscale crash structure models”, ECCOMAS Composites-9, Trapani-Italy, September 2023.

Silva Campos P.J., Dalli D., Arteiro A., Danzi F., Moreira D., Lobão V., Vigna L., Calzolari A., Rodrigues Lopes I.A., “Investigating the energy absorption capabilities of novel composite materials”, ECCOMAS Composites-9, Trapani-Italy, September 2023.

Dalli D., Moreira D., Almeida J., Lobão V., Danzi F., Arteiro A., Foster S., “Curvature effect on crush energy absorption of 2D woven CFRPs”. ICCM23, Belfast-UK, August 2023.

Danzi F., Silva Campos P.J., Arteiro A., Dalli D., Furtado C., Chevalier J., Tavares R., Laní F., Camanho P.P., “Compressive crack resistance analysis of unidirectional thermoplastic composites”, CompTest 2023, Girona-Spain, May 2023.

Silva Campos P.J., Arteiro A., Danzi F., Rodrigues Lopes I.A., Dalli D., “Quasi-static crushing behaviour of a high-strength carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic (cfrtp) in mechanically fastened joints”, CompTest 2023, Girona-Spain, May 2023.

Dalli D., Arteiro A., Lobão V., Foster S., “Macroscale modelling of the crushing behaviour of 2D woven CFRP Formula 1 crash structures”. M2D2022, Funchal-Portugal, June 2022.

Published dissertations

Masters in Mechanical Engineering: Development and testing of hybrid composite coupons for crush testing (https://hdl.handle.net/10216/142844)

Development of a sustainable composite crash structure for Formula Student vehicles (https://hdl.handle.net/10216/153527)

Stay tuned for the upcoming project-related publications on sustainable composite crashworthiness!

Acknowledgement: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101038082. The content reflects only the authors’ views and the Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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