Public Lecture by Professor O. Zhupanska

On May 6, Dr. Olesia Zhupanska, a professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arizona and president of the American Society for Composites, gave a public lecture on the topic: “Low Velocity Impact Damage in CFRP Composites: Testing, Sensing, and Imaging.”

During her lecture, Prof. Olesia Zhupanska presented a comprehensive study focused on analyzing low-speed impact damage in CFRP composites, which includes testing, damage assessment, image analysis, and modeling.

Damage from low-speed impact in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites is one of the most critical aspects to consider when designing damage-resistant composite structures. Thus, damage detection and assessment are active areas of research that continue to attract significant attention from the research and applied engineering communities. Particularly dangerous situations arise when the absence of visible damage or barely noticeable damage on the surface of a composite structure is accompanied by a significant reduction in its strength, stiffness, and durability.

The open lecture was attended by participants from the following organizations: Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the G.S. Pysarenko Institute for Problems of Strength of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and the National Aviation University.

Students, graduate students, and faculty members participated in a discussion and exchange of views on the specifics of designing products made of composite materials and calculating the strength of such structures; the characteristics of research conducted at U.S. universities; as well as the latest challenges facing the scientific community in the aviation, automotive, energy, and other industrial sectors.

We sincerely thank Prof. Olesia Zhupanska for her time, her insightful lecture, and her answers to all the questions raised by the participants of the open lecture!

The “Aircraft Engineering Education Renovation” (uCAREER) project is being implemented under the “Small Grants for Public Diplomacy – EDUCATION for 2023” Program with the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine (the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine).