We had those nice chaps from Seattle gives us lowly charter boys a brief on the 787 a while ago. They are pushing the strength of the composities in a major way; video of people hitting a section with a hammer and comparing it with aluminium!
They say it'll be 20% lighter than an equivalent traditional a/c. Hence the extended ranges they are quoting; Australia from LGW in one go! They have included some items to help assess damage around the cargo loading bays and doors. Essentially they're electrical circuits embedded in the fibre. How hard the a/c is smacked by, say, a truck dictates how much of the circuit is broken and consequently what level of warning is received in the cockpit.
How on earth you repair that sort of stuff i don't know! I'm not at all sure how you assess fatigue on carbon fibre, just ask Pete Goss!!