Dr. Olaf Weckner
Structural Methods and Allowables organization
The Boeing Company

Simulation of Damage Propagation in Aerospace Structures using Peridynamics

ABSTRACT: This presentation will cover an introduction to peridynamics, how it differs from classical linear elasticity, and end with applications at Boeing for damage tolerance, as well as cover a more recent project with NASA on ballistic limit testing.

BIOGRAPHY: Olaf Weckner obtained his PhD on dynamic systems from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, in 2004. He received a full DAAD scholarship to continue his research as a postdoc at MIT before joining Boeing Research and Technology (BR&T) in 2005. During his 8 years in BR&T Olaf worked on advanced composites and received 4 US patents on composite optimization. Olaf joined the 777-X program as the Upper Panel Lead in 2013. Full Scale Static Testing and First Flight of the 777-X were the highlight of his 17-year Boeing career. Olaf became a Boeing Associate Technical Fellow (ATF) in 2019 and has been working as a Senior Lead in the Structural Methods and Allowables (SMA) organization where he supports Product Development and various Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) programs such as 787 and 777-X.