Composite Materials and Structures for Aeronautical and Aerospace Applications

Composite materials play a central role in aeronautical engineering, enabling lightweight structures, improved mechanical performance, and enhanced damage tolerance. In both civil and military aircraft, fibre-reinforced polymer composites, hybrid laminates, sandwich structures, and emerging sustainable composites are employed in primary and secondary structural components.

The Brazilian Conference on Composite Materials (BCCM) (https://bccm.com.br/) has established itself as a key forum for advances in composite materials science, experimental characterization, manufacturing processes, and computational modelling. Many of the themes traditionally addressed within the BCCM Community, such as damage and fracture mechanics, multi-scale modelling, manufacturing defects, and novel composite systems, are relevant to current challenges in aeronautical structures.

This Research Topic aims to bridge the scientific contributions presented at BCCM8 with aeronautical engineering applications, highlighting how recent advances in composite materials and structures can be translated into safer, lighter, and more reliable aircraft components. The focus is on research that connects material behavior, structural response, and engineering design requirements, including validation aspects.

This Research Topic welcomes contributions inspired by or extended from work presented at BCCM8, as well as related studies, addressing composite materials and structures applied to aeronautical engineering. Emphasis is placed on integrative approaches combining experimental investigation, numerical modelling, and engineering analysis.

This Research Topic welcomes original research articles and review papers addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Composite Materials for Aeronautical Applications

(polymer matrix composites, hybrid laminates, textile composites, sandwich panels)

• Damage, Failure, and Fracture Mechanics

(delamination, impact damage, fatigue, mixed-mode fracture, progressive damage)

• Experimental Characterization and Testing

(mechanical testing, fracture toughness, environmental effects, non-destructive evaluation)

• Computational and Numerical Modelling

(multi-scale modelling, continuum damage mechanics, cohesive zone models, XFEM)

• Manufacturing Processes and Defect Sensitivity

(automated fibre placement, resin transfer molding, additive manufacturing of composites)

• Structural Applications in Aeronautics

(wings, fuselage structures, stiffened panels, control surfaces)

• Structural Health Monitoring and Damage Detection

(embedded sensors, data-driven monitoring, inspection strategies)

• Hybrid, Natural Fiber, and Sustainable Composites

(bio-based materials, recyclable composites, lifecycle considerations)

• Design and Validation Oriented Studies

(test–analysis correlation, design allowable, virtual testing approaches)



Impact and Relevance

By aligning advances from the BCCM8 community with the needs of aeronautical engineering, this Research Topic aims to foster knowledge transfer from composite materials research to real aircraft applications. The collection will serve as a reference for researchers and engineers working on the design, analysis, and certification of composite aeronautical structures, contributing to innovation, safety, and sustainability in aerospace engineering.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: aeronautical composites, damage and fracture mechanics, experimental characterization, computational modelling, manufacturing defects, structural health monitoring

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.