Composite Materials Design Database and Data Retrieval System Requirements

Researchers and materials engineers require a greater understanding of the problems and solutions that emerge when integrating composite materials data with computer technology so that utilitarian composite materials databases can be developed to effectively and efficiently support analysis and design software. This paper primarily serves to analyze several of the problems facing developers of composite materials databases, evolving from the complexity of the materials themselves and from the current lack of testing and data representation standards. Without a clear understanding of the scope and nature of these problems, there is no possibility of designing concise yet comprehensive composites data models, yet we feel that such an understanding is presently lacking.