Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-281).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1961. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes Bibliographical references (leaves 54-55).

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Ocean Engineering. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.S.

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Identifying material parameters in composite plates is a necessary first step in a variety of structural applications. For example, understanding the material parameters of carbon fiber composite is important in investigating sensor and actuator placement on micro-air-vehicle wings for control and wing morphing purposes. Knowing the material parameters can also help examine the health of composite structures and detect wear or defects. Traditional testing methods for finding material parameters such as stiffness and damping require multiple types of experiments such as tensile tests and shaker tests. These tests are not without complications. Methods such as tensile testing can be destructive to the test specimens while use of strain gages and accelerometers can be inappropriate due to the lightweight nature of the structures. The proposed inverse problem testing methods using digital image correlation via high speed cameras can potentially eliminate the disadvantages of traditional methods as well as determine the required material parameters including stiffness and damping by conducting only one type of experiment. These material parameters include stiffness and damping for both isotropic and orthotropic materials, and ply angle layup specifically for carbon fiber materials. A finite element model based on the Kirchoff-Love thin plate theory is used to produce theoretical data for comparison with experimental data collected using digital image correlation. Shaker experiments are also carried out using digital image correlation to investigate the modal frequencies as validation of the results of the inverse problem. We apply these techniques first to an aluminum plate for which material parameters are known to test the performance and efficiency of the method. We then apply the method to a composite plates to determine not only these parameters, but also the layup angle. The inverse problem successfully estimates the Young's modulus and damping for the aluminum material. In addition, the vibration analysis produces consistent resonance frequencies for the first two modes for both theoretical and experimental data. However, carbon fiber plates present challenges due to limitations of the Kirchoff-Love plate theory used as the underlining theoretical model for the finite element approximation used in the inverse problem, resulting in a persistent mismatch of resonance frequencies in experimental data. / Graduation date: 2012

The general problem of plastic buckling of flat metal plates is a fundamental area of investigation in mechanics not only because of its intrinsic importance in the design of engineering structures, but also because it still has not been settled in a satisfying manner. Which theory of plasticity is the correct one to predict the buckling loads in the plastic range is a long-argued problem. / This thesis presents finite element analyses of plastic buckling and postbuckling behaviour of columns and plates, taking into account the presence of initial out-of-plane imperfections. The FE programs constructed by the author for this purpose are used to analyze the imperfection growth of such columns and plates under axial loading and simply supported edge conditions. The material behaviour is modeled according to both the incremental and the deformation theories of strain-hardening plasticity. The programs combine both the geometric and material nonlinearities to trace the load-deflection behaviours of these structures in prebuckling (up to the maximum load) as well as postbuckling ranges. The results of the analyses for plates show the extreme sensitivity of the incremental theory, and the relative insensitivity of the deformation theory, to the initial imperfections. / The programs are used to simulate the plastic buckling experiments on Aluminum tubes, taking into account their measured imperfections. The imperfection growth analyses demonstrate that the maximum load predictions of the incremental theory are quite close to those recorded in the experiments.

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