Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Hayder A. Rasheed / The use of laminated composites in aerospace, automotive, and civil engineering applications is ever growing due to their distinguished properties (High stiffness-to-weight ratio, high strength-to-weight ratio, fatigue and corrosion resistance). This growth has resulted in increasing the demand for better understanding the mechanics of laminated composites. Composite columns and wide plates, like any traditional members subjected to axial compression, undergo stability issues prior to failure. Limited amount of research studies has focused on the buckling of laminated anisotropic composite members. Analytical formula for the buckling load of generally anisotropic laminated composite simply supported thin columns and wide plates is derived using the Rayleigh Ritz approximation and bifurcation approach. The effective axial, coupling and flexural stiffness coefficients of the anisotropic layup is determined from the generalized constitutive relationship using dimensional reduction by static condensation of the 6x6 composite stiffness matrix. The resulting explicit formula is expressed in terms of the generally anisotropic material properties as well as the member geometry. The developed formula may be considered an extension to Euler buckling formula using Rayleigh-Ritz approximation and the first of its kind since Euler. This formula reduces down to Euler buckling formula once the effective coupling stiffness term vanishes for isotropic and certain classes of laminated composites. The analytical results are verified against finite element Eigen value solutions for a wide range of anisotropic laminated layups yielding high accuracy. Comparisons with experiments; conducted at Kansas State University for the simply supported case, are also performed showing good correspondence. A brief parametric study is then conducted to examine the effect of ply orientations and material properties including hybrid carbon/glass fiber composites, element thickness, and element type in FE analysis. Relevance of the numerical and analytical results is discussed for all these cases.

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El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / In this work, a finite element model based on an improved first-order formulation (IFSDT) is developed to analyze buckling phenomenon in laminated composite beams. The formulation has five independent variables and takes into account thickness stretching. Threedimensional constitutive equations are employed to define the material properties. The Trefftz criterion is used for the stability analysis. The finite element model is derived from the principle of virtual work with high-order Lagrange polynomials to interpolate the field variables and to prevent shear locking. Numerical results are compared and validated with those available in literature. Furthermore, a parametric study is presented.

<p>  </p> <p>Thermal shrinkage in advanced composite manufacturing causes residual stress in a cylindrical anisotropic segment. The residual stress later induces a spring-in angle when  the temperature change is negative. The superposition method in the finite element method (FEM) by ABAQUS©  proves that only the residual stress in the circumferential direction controls the spring-in angle and induces the radial residual stress. To predict the angle change, the residual stress is firstly determined by using the closed-loop geometry in FEM and then implemented into the cylindrical cross-ply symmetric laminate segment. Consequently, the geometry creates the spring-in angle under the traction-free surface. The angle change is in good agreement with the Radford equation and is found to depend on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the circumferential and radial directions rather than other material properties and geometry dimensions. </p> <p>The study found a new limitation of the Radford equation, in that it is accurate when the part is anisotropic symmetric laminate, but not when it is unsymmetric. The accuracy of the Radford equation is further explored with the double curve geometry. Using the superposition method, the circumferential residual stress along the major curve is found to have an influence on the angle change not only of the major curve, but also of the minor curve. The negative temperature change produces the spring-in angle on the major curve, and both spring-in and -off angles on the minor curve, which rely on the radius ratio. In addition, the spring-in angle on the major curve is coincident with the Radford equation. In sum, knowing the spring-in angle is very helpful in designing a tool in advanced composite manufacturing, and the superposition method and the Radford equation are applicable to predict the spring-in angle.</p>

The three-dimensional linear theory of piezo-elasticity is used to analyse steady state vibrations of a simply supported rectangular laminated composite plate with piezoelectric (PZT) actuator and sensor patches either embedded in it or bonded to the its surfaces. It is assumed that different layers are perfectly bonded to each other. The method of Fourier series is used to find an analytical solution of the problem. The analytical solution is then applied to study the shape control of a steadily vibrating composite plate by exciting different regions of a PZT actuator. Numerical results for a thin and a thick plate containing one embedded actuator layer and one embedded sensor layer are presented. For the former case, the optimum location of the centroid of the excited rectangular region that will require minimum voltage to control the out-of-plane displacements is determined. Keeping the location of the centroid and the shape of the excited region fixed, we ascertain the voltage required as a function of the length of its diagonal to nullify the deflections of the plate. The maximum shear stress at the interface between the sensor and the lamina is found to be lower than that between the actuator and the lamina. The point of maximum output voltage from the sensor coincides with that of its peak out-of-plane displacement. The variations of displacement and stress components through the thickness for the thin and thick plates are similar. The transient finite deformations of a neo-Hookean beam or plate with PZT patches bonded to its upper and lower surfaces are simulated by the finite element method. The constitutive relation for the piezoelectric material is taken to be linear in the Green-Lagrange strain tensor but quadratic in the driving voltage. A code using 8-noded brick elements has been developed and validated by comparing computed results with either analytical solutions or experimental observations. The code is then used to study flexural waves generated by PZT actuators and propagating through a cantilever beam both with and without a defect in it. The computed results are compared with test observations and with the published results for the linear elastic beam. The effects of both geometrical and material nonlinearities are discussed. A simple feedback control algorithm is shown to annul the motion of a neo-Hookean plate subjected to an impulsive load. / Ph. D.

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This thesis reports on a design study, conducted for an advanced composite helmet shell for helicopter pilots. The helmet shell is expected to provide a level of protection against low velocity impacts with its weight criteria. Therefore, ergonomy, light weight, and the ability to withstand low velocity impact became the main issues for this study. For this purpose, an experimental program has been developed including low velocity impact tests on specimens. The drop height, drop weight, specimen stacking sequences and size were constant parameters. Test specimens were produced using the plate size of 220x220 mm having different thicknesses. Specimen materials were aramid, carbon, and a hybrid form of these two. Thus, the parameters of the study were specimen thickness and the material types. The impact tests are carried out on a specially designed test rig. The design decisions are made in accordance with the results of the experiments. In compliance with the lightweight and manufacturing criteria, the hybrid specimen was selected helmet shell. For the purpose of ergonomy a geometric design was also conducted from headfrom sizes of Turkish Army by using 3D design software. After specifying the composite material, manufactured helmet shell was tested in another test rig according to the ANSI Z90.1.1992. For the requirement of the acceleration level 300g, the helmet shell design was found to be successful at seven different and critical impact points.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the progressive failure behavior of laminated fiber reinforced composite shell structures under different loading conditions. The laminates are assumed to be orthotropic and the first order shear deformation theory is applied. Three-node layered flat-shell elements are used in the analysis. To verify the numerical results obtained, experimental and analytical results found in literature are compared with the outputs of the study, and the comparison is found to have shown good agreement with the previous work. Rectangular graphite/epoxy composite laminates under transverse loading are analyzed through several boundary conditions and stacking sequences. Maximum stress criteria, Hashin&rsquo / s criteria and Tsai Wu criteria are employed to detect the failure and progressive failure methodology is be implemented according to instantaneous degradation approach. First ply failure, final failure loads, corresponding deformations and failure patterns are presented and compared.

An asymptotically-exact methodology is presented for obtaining the cross-sectional stiffness matrix of a pre-twisted, moderately-thick beam having rectangular cross sections and made of transversely isotropic material. The beam is modelled with-out assumptions from 3-D elasticity. The strain energy of the beam is computed making use of the constitutive law and the kinematical relations derived with the inclusion of geometrical nonlinearities and initial twist. Large displacements and rotations are allowed, but small strain is assumed. The Variational Asymptotic Method (VAM) is used to minimize the energy functional, thereby reducing the cross section to a point on the reference line with appropriate properties, yielding a 1-D constitutive law. In this method as applied herein, the 2-D cross-sectional analysis is performed asymptotically by taking advantage of a material small parameter and two geometric small parameters. 3-D strain components are derived using kinematics and arranged as orders of the small parameters. Warping functions are obtained by the minimisation of strain energy subject to certain set of constraints that renders the 1-D strain measures well-defined. Closed-form expressions are derived for the 3-D non-linear warping and stress fields. The model is capable of predicting interlaminar and transverse shear stresses accurately up to first order.

Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia utilizando técnicas de otimização estrutural para o projeto de placas feitas de material composto laminado sujeitas a interação fluido-estrutura. O procedimento de otimização busca o aumento da velocidade de ut- ter através da maximização das frequências naturais relacionadas aos modos de vibração que estão envolvidos no fenômeno. A analise de estabilidade aero elástica é feita através do método ZONA6 ou método de malha de dipolos, implementado no software ZAERO. O método dos elementos finitos e aplicado para resolver as equações de equilíbrio no modelo estrutural, a sensibilidade dos autovalores com relação as variáveis de projeto é calculada analiticamente e programação linear sequencial é aplicada. A maximização é feita usando dois métodos; o primeiro utiliza uma analise aero elástica para determinar qual modo causa o início de utter, o autovalor associado e então maximizado, na segunda estratégia um método de diferenças finitas é aplicado e as sensibilidades da velocidade de utter com respeito aos autovalores são calculadas, a analise de sensibilidade é usada para guiar o processo de otimização. Por fim, um processo de otimização topológica é aplicado para reduzir a massa das placas em estudo, usando a minimização de volume do material base com a densidade sendo a variável de projeto. / This work presents a structural optimization aided design methodology for composite laminated plates subject to fluid-structure interaction. The goal of the optimization procedure is to increase the flutter speed onset through the maximization of natural frequencies related to the vibration modes involved in the phenomenon. The aeroelastic stability analysis is performed using the ZONA6 method or Doublet mesh method by means of ZAERO software. The finite element method is applied to solve the structural model equilibrium equations, the eigenvalues sensitivities with respect to design variables are calculated analytically, and sequential linear programming is applied. The maximization is accomplished using two methods; the first method uses an aeroelastic analysis to determinate which eigenmode causes the flutter onset, and its eigenvalue is then maximized. In the second method, a forward finite difference method is applied and the flutter speed sensitivities with respect to the eigenvalues are calculated. This sensitivity is used to guide the optimization process. Finally, a topology optimization process is applied to reduce the mass of the plates under study, using the base material volume minimization with density as design variable.