The analysis and optimum design of stiffened, shear webs in aircraft structures is addressed. The post-buckling behaviour of the webs is assessed using the interactive algorithm developed by Grisham. This method requires only linear finite element analyses, while convergence is typically achieved in as few as five iterations. The Grisham algorithm is extensively compared with empirical analysis methods previously used for aircraft structures and also with a refined, non-linear quasi-static finite element analysis. The Grisham algorithm provides for both compressive buckling in two directions as well as shear buckling, and overcomes some of the conservatism inherent in conventional methods of analysis. In addition, the method is notably less expensive than a complete non-linear finite element analysis, even though global collapse cannot be predicted. While verification of the analysis methodology is the main focus of the stud, an initial investigation into optimization is also made. In optimizing stiffened thin walled structures, the Grisham algorithm is combined with a genetic algorithm. Allowable stress constraints are accommodated using a simple penalty formulation. / Dissertation (MEng (Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

In this diploma thesis is completed the FEM analysis of connecting rod in combustion engine Briggs & Stratton of the garden lawnmower. Within the frame of computing in the FEM system ANSYS Workbench is solved static structural strein and stress analysis, buckling analysis a fatigue also. The boundary conditions for FEM computing come out from the kinematic and dynamic analysis of the crank-slider mechanism in combustion engine. The 3-D models of the crank-slider mechanism are created in parametric SolidWorks modeller. Own construction variants of the connecting rod based on results of FEM analysis are also designed.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In a multifidelity structural design process, depending on the required analysis, different levels of structural models are needed. Within the aerospace design, analysis and optimization community, there is an increasing demand for automatic generation of parametric feature tree (build recipe) attributed multidisciplinary models. Currently, this is mainly done by creating separate models for different disciplines such as mid-surface model for aeroelasticity, outer-mold line for aerodynamics and CFD, and built-up element model for structural analysis. Since all of these models are built independently, any changes in design parameters require updates on all the models which is inefficient, time-consuming and prone to deficiencies. In this research, Engineering Sketch Pad (ESP) is used to create attribution and maintain consistency between structural models with different fidelity levels. It provides the user with the ability to interact with a configuration by building and/or modifying the design parameters and feature tree that define the configuration. ESP is based an open-source constructive solid modeler, named OpenCSM, which is built upon the OpenCASCADE geometry kernel and the EGADS geometry generation system. The use of OpenCSM as part of the AFRL’s CAPS project on Computational Aircraft Prototype Syntheses for automatic commercial and fighter jet models is demonstrated. The rapid generation of parametric aircraft structural models proposed and developed in this work will benefit the aerospace industry with coming up with efficient, fast and robust multidisciplinary design standardization of aircraft structures. Metallic aircraft wings are usually not optimized to their fullest potential due to shortage of development time. With roughly \$1000 worth of potential fuel savings per pound of weight reduction over the operational life of an aircraft, airlines are trying to minimize the weight of aircraft structures. A stiffness based strategy is used to map the nodal data of the lower-order fidelity structural models onto the higher-order ones. A simple multi-fidelity analysis process for a parametric wing is used to demonstrate the advantage of the approach. The loads on the wing are applied from a stick model as is done in the industry. C program is created to connect the parametric design software ESP, analysis software Nastran, load file and design configuration file in CSV format. This problem gets compounded when it comes to optimization of composite wings. In this study, a multi-level optimization strategy to optimize the weight of a composite transport aircraft wing is proposed. The part is assumed to initially have some arbitrary number of composite super plies. Super plies are a concept consisting of a set of plies all arranged in the same direction. The thickness and orientation angles of the super plies are optimized. Then, each ply undergoes topometry optimization to obtain the areas of each super ply taking the least load so that it could be cut and removed. Each of the super plies are then optimized for the thickness and orientation angles of the sub plies. The work presented on this paper is part of a project done for Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) connecting the parametric geometry modeler (ESP) with the finite element solver (Nastran).

The flexural capacity of the new hollow flange steel section known as LiteSteel beam (LSB) is limited by lateral distortional buckling for intermediate spans, which is characterised by simultaneous lateral deflection, twist and web distortion. Recent research based on finite element analysis and testing has developed design rules for the member capacity of LiteSteel beams subject to this unique lateral distortional buckling. These design rules are limited to a uniform bending moment distribution. However, uniform bending moment conditions rarely exist in practice despite being considered as the worst case due to uniform yielding across the span. Loading position or load height is also known to have significant effects on the lateral buckling strength of beams. Therefore it is important to include the effects of these loading conditions in the assessment of LSB member capacities. Many steel design codes have adopted equivalent uniform moment distribution and load height factors for this purpose. But they were derived mostly based on data for conventional hot-rolled, doubly symmetric I-beams subject to lateral torsional buckling. In contrast LSBs are made of high strength steel and have a unique crosssection with specific residual stresses and geometrical imperfections along with a unique lateral distortional buckling mode. The moment distribution and load height effects for LSBs, and the suitability of the current steel design code methods to accommodate these effects for LSBs are not yet known. The research study presented in this thesis was therefore undertaken to investigate the effects of nonuniform moment distribution and load height on the lateral buckling strength of simply supported and cantilever LSBs. Finite element analyses of LSBs subject to lateral buckling formed the main component of this study. As the first step the original finite element model used to develop the current LSB design rules for uniform moment was improved to eliminate some of the modelling inaccuracies. The modified finite element model was validated using the elastic buckling analysis results from well established finite strip analysis programs. It was used to review the current LSB design curve for uniform moment distribution, based on which appropriate recommendations were made. The modified finite element model was further modified to simulate various loading and support configurations and used to investigate the effects of many commonly used moment distributions and load height for both simply supported and cantilever LSBs. The results were compared with the predictions based on the current steel code design rules. Based on these comparisons, appropriate recommendations were made on the suitability of the current steel code design methods. New design recommendations were made for LSBs subjected to non-uniform moment distributions and varying load positions. A number of LSB experiments was also undertaken to confirm the results of finite element analysis study. In summary the research reported in this thesis has developed an improved finite element model that can be used to investigate the buckling behaviour of LSBs for the purpose of developing design rules. It has increased the understanding and knowledge of simply supported and cantilever LSBs subject to non-uniform moment distributions and load height effects. Finally it has proposed suitable design rules for LSBs in the form of equations and factors within the current steel code design provisions. All of these advances have thus further enhanced the economical and safe design of LSBs.

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Global-local finite element analyses were used to study the damage tolerance of curvilinearly stiffened panels; fabricated using the modern additive manufacturing process, the so-called unitized structures, and that of adhesive joints. A damage tolerance study of the unitized structures requires cracks to be defined in the vicinity of the critical stress zone. With the damage tolerance study of unitized structures as the focus, responses of curvilinearly stiffened panels to the combined shear and compression loadings were studied for different stiffeners' height. It was observed that the magnitude of the minimum principal stress in the panel was larger than the magnitudes of the maximum principal and von Mises stresses. It was also observed that the critical buckling load factor increased significantly with the increase of stiffeners' height. To study the damage tolerance of curvilinearly stiffened panels, in the first step, buckling analysis of panels was performed to determine whether panels satisfied the buckling constraint. In the second step, stress distributions of the panel were analyzed to determine the location of the critical stress under the combined shear and compression loadings. Then, the fracture analysis of the curvilinearly stiffened panel with a crack of size 1.45 mm defined at the location of the critical stress, which was the common location with the maximum magnitude of the principal stresses and von Mises stress, was performed under combined shear and tensile loadings. This crack size was used because of the requirement of a sufficiently small crack, if the crack is in the vicinity of any stress raiser. A mesh sensitivity analysis was performed to validate the choice of the mesh density near the crack tip. All analyses were performed using global-local finite element method using MSC. Marc, and global finite element methods using MSC. Marc and ABAQUS. Negligible difference in results and 94% saving in the CPU time was achieved using the global-local finite element method over the global finite element method by using a mesh density of 8.4 element/mm ahead of the crack tip. To study the influence of different loads on basic modes of fracture, the shear and normal (tensile) loads were varied differently. It was observed that the case with the fixed shear load but variable normal loads and the case with the fixed normal load but variable shear loads were Mode-I. Under the maximum combined loading condition, the largest effective stress intensity factor was very smaller than the critical stress intensity factor. Therefore, considering the critical stress intensity factor of the panel with the crack of size 1.45 mm, the design of the stiffened panel was an optimum design satisfying damage tolerance constraints. To acquire the trends in stress intensity factors for different crack lengths under different loadings, fracture analyses of curvilinearly stiffened panels with different crack lengths were performed by using a global-local finite element method under three different load cases: a) a shear load, b) a normal load, and c) a combined shear and normal loads. It was observed that 85% data storage space and the same amount in CPU time requirement could be saved using global-local finite element method compared to the standard global finite element analysis. It was also observed that the fracture mode in panels with different crack lengths was essentially Mode-I under the normal load case; Mode-II under the shear load case; and again Mode-I under the combined load case. Under the combined loading condition, the largest effective stress intensity factor of the panel with a crack of recommended size, if the crack is not in the vicinity of any stress raiser, was very smaller than the critical stress intensity factor. This work also includes the performance evaluation of adhesive joints of two different materials. This research was motivated by our experience of an adhesive joint failure on a test-fixture that we used to experimentally validate the design of stiffened panels under a compression-shear load. In the test-fixture, steel tabs were adhesively bonded to an aluminum panel and this adhesive joint debonded before design loads on the test panel were fully applied. Therefore, the requirement of studying behavior of adhesive joints for assembling dissimilar materials was found to be necessary. To determine the failure load responsible for debonding of adhesive joints of two dissimilar materials, stress distributions in adhesive joints of the nonlinear finite element model of the test-fixture were studied under a gradually increasing compression-shear load. Since the design of the combined load test fixture was for transferring the in-plane shear and compression loads to the panel, in-plane loads might have been responsible for the debonding of the steel tabs, which was similar to the results obtained from the nonlinear finite element analysis of the combined load test fixture. Then, fundamental studies were performed on the three-dimensional finite element models of adhesive lap joints and the Asymmetric Double Cantilever Beam (ADCB) joints for shear and peel deformations subjected to a loading similar to the in-plane loading conditions in the test-fixtures. The analysis was performed using ABAQUS, and the cohesive zone modeling was used to study the debonding growth. It was observed that the stronger adhesive joints could be obtained using the tougher adhesive and thicker adherends. The effect of end constraints on the fracture resistance of the ADCB specimen under compression was also investigated. The numerical observations showed that the delamination for the fixed end ADCB joints was more gradual than for the free end ADCB joints. Finally, both the crack propagation and the characteristics of adhesive joints were studied using a global-local finite element method. Three cases were studied using the proposed global-local finite element method: a) adhesively bonded Double Cantilever Beam (DCB), b) an adhesive lap joint, and c) a three-point bending test specimen. Using global-local methods, in a crack propagation problem of an adhesively bonded DCB, more than 80% data storage space and more than 65% CPU time requirement could be saved. In the adhesive lap joints, around 70% data storage space and 70% CPU time requirement could be saved using the global-local method. For the three-point bending test specimen case, more than 90% for both data storage space and CPU time requirement could be saved using the global-local method. / Ph. D.