No description available.

The failure behavior of composite laminates is modeled numerically using the Generalized Layerwise Plate Theory (GLPT) of Reddy and a progressive failure algorithm. The Layerwise Theory of Reddy assumes a piecewise continuous displacement field through the thickness of the laminate and therefore has the ability to capture the interlaminar stress fields near the free edges and cut outs more accurately. The progressive failure algorithm is based on the assumption that the material behaves like a stable progressively fracturing solid. A three-dimensional stiffness reduction scheme is developed and implemented to study progressive failures in composite laminates. The effect of various parameters such as out-of-plane material properties, boundary conditions, and stiffness reduction methods on the failure stresses and strains of a quasi-isotropic composite laminate with free edges subjected to tensile loading is studied. The ultimate stresses and strains predicted by the Generalized Layerwise Plate Theory (GLPT) and the more widely used First Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT) are compared with experimental results. The predictions of the GLPT are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results both qualitatively and quantitatively, while the predictions of FSDT are found to be different from experimental results both qualitatively and quantitatively. The predictive ability of various phenomenological failure criteria is evaluated with reference to the experimental results available in the literature. The effect of geometry of the test specimen and the displacement boundary conditions at the grips on the ultimate stresses and strains of a composite laminate under compressive loading is studied. The ultimate stresses and strains are found to be quite sensitive to the geometry of the test specimen and the displacement boundary conditions at the grips. The degree of sensitivity is observed to depend strongly on the lamination sequence. The predictions of the progressive failure algorithm are in agreement with the experimental trends. Finally, the effect of geometric nonlinearity on the first-ply and ultimate failure loads of a composite laminate subjected to bending load is studied. The geometric nonlinearity is taken in to account in the von Kármán sense. It is demonstrated that the nonlinear failure loads are quite different from the linear failure loads, depending on the lamination sequence, boundary conditions, and span-to-depth ratio of the test specimen. Further, it is shown that the First order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT) and the Generalized Layerwise Plate Theory (GLPT) predict qualitatively different results. / Ph. D.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

An inelastic material model for laminated composite plates and shells is formulated and incorporated into a finite element model that accounts for both geometric nonlinearity and transverse shear stresses. The elasto-plastic material behavior is incorporated using the flow theory of plasticity. In particular, the modified version of Hill's initial yield criterion is used in which anisotropic parameters of plasticity are introduced with isotropic strain hardening. The shear deformation is accounted for using an extension of the Sanders shell theory and the geometric nonlinearity is considered in the sense of the von Karman strains. A doubly curved isoparametric rectangular element is used to model the shell equations. The layered element approach is adopted for the treatment of plastic behavior through the thickness. A wide range of numerical examples is presented for both static and dynamic analysis to demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the present approach. The results for combined nonlinearity are also presented. The results for isotropic results are in good agreement with those available in the literature. The variety of results presented here based on realistic material properties of more commonly used advanced laminated composite plates and shells should serve as references for future investigations. / Ph. D.

Near wake is the region of wake flow just behind the trailing edge of the body where the flow is strongly influenced by the upstream flow conditions and also perhaps by the charac­teristics of the body. The present work is concerned with the study of the development of turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate. The turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate is the simplest of the three-dimensional turbulent near wake flows. The present study aims at providing a set of data on the turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate and also at understanding the development and structure of the near wake. Detailed measurements of mean and turbulent quantities have been made using 3-hole probe, X-wire and 3-wire hotwire probes. Further an asymptotic analysis of the two-dimensional turbulent near wake flow has been formulated for the near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate. The feature that the near wake which is dominated by mixing of the oncoming turbulent boundary layer retains, to a large extent, the memory of the turbulent structure of the boundary layer, has been exploited to develop this analysis. The analysis leads to three regions of the wake flow (the inner near wake, the outer near wake and the far wake) for which the governing equations are derived. The matching conditions among these regions lead to logarithmic variations in both normal and longitudinal directions in the overlapping regions surrounding the inner wake. These features are validated by the present results. A computational study involving seven well known turbulence models was also under­taken in order to assess the performance of the existing turbulence models in the prediction of the turbulent near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate. In this study all the seven models are implemented into a common flow solver code, thus eliminating the influence of grid size, initial conditions and different numerical schemes while making the comparison. This study shows that the K - e model performs better than other models in predicting the near wake behind an infinitely yawed flat plate.

[Truncated abstract] Shipbuilding is fast becoming a priority industry in Australia. With increasing demands to build fast vessels of lighter weight, shipbuilders are more concerned with noise and vibration problems in ships than ever. The objective of this thesis is to study the vibration response of coupled structures, in the hope that the study may shed some light in understanding the general features of ship vibration. An important feature characterizing the vibration in complex structures is the input mobility, as it describes the capacity of structures in accepting vibration energy from sources. The input mobilities of finite ribbed plate and plate/plate coupled structures are investigated analytically and experimentally in this study. It is shown that the input mobility of a finite ribbed plate is bounded by the input mobilities of the uncoupled plate and beam(s) that form the ribbed plate and is dependent upon the distance between the source location and the stiffened beam(s). Off-neutral axis loading on the beam (point force applied on the beam but away from the beam’s neutral axis) affects the input power, kinetic energy distribution in the component plates of the ribbed plate and energy flow into the plates from the beam under direct excitation ... solutions were then used to examine the validity of statistical energy analysis (SEA) in the prediction of vibration response of an L-shaped plate due to deterministic force excitations. It was found that SEA can be utilized to predict the frequency averaged vibration response and energy flow of L-shaped plates under deterministic force (moment) excitations providing that the source location is more than a quarter of wavelength away from the plate edges. Furthermore, a simple experimental method was developed in this study to evaluate the frequency dependent stiffness and damping of rubber mounts by impact test. Finally, analytical methods developed in this study were applied in the prediction of vibration response of a ship structure. It was found that input mobilities of ship hull structures due to machinery excitations are governed by the stiffness of the supporting structure to which the engine is mounted. Their frequency averaged values can be estimated from those of the mounting structure of finite or infinite extents. It was also shown that wave propagation in ship hull structures at low frequencies could be attenuated by irregularities imposed to the periodic locations of the ship frames. The vibration at higher frequencies could be controlled by modifications of the supporting structure.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Kyoto University, 1984. / Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis proposes an automated grid-based alignment system utilizing lasers and an array of light-detecting photodiodes. The intent is to create an inexpensive and scalable alignment system for pick-and-place robotic systems. The system utilizes the transformation matrix, geometry, and trigonometry to determine the movements to align the robot with a grid-based array of photodiodes. The alignment system consists of a sending unit utilizing lasers, a receiving module consisting of photodiodes, a data acquisition unit, a computer-based control system, and the robot being aligned. The control system computes the robot movements needed to position the lasers based on the laser positions detected by the photodiodes. A transformation matrix converts movements from the coordinate system of the grid formed by the photodiodes to the coordinate system of the robot. The photodiode grid can detect a single laser spot and move it to any part of the grid, or it can detect up to four laser spots and use their relative positions to determine rotational misalignment of the robot. Testing the alignment consists of detecting the position of a single laser at individual points in a distinct pattern on the grid array of photodiodes, and running the entire alignment process multiple times starting with different misalignment cases. The first test provides a measure of the position detection accuracy of the system, while the second test demonstrates the alignment accuracy and repeatability of the system. The system detects the position of a single laser or multiple lasers by using a method similar to a center-of-gravity calculation. The intensity of each photodiode is multiplied by the X-position of that photodiode. The summed result from each photodiode intensity and position product is divided by the summed value of all of the photodiode intensities to get the X-position of the laser. The same thing is done with the Y-values to get the Y-position of the laser. Results show that with this method the system can read a single laser position value with a resolution of 0.1mm, and with a maximum X-error of 2.9mm and Y-error of 2.0mm. It takes approximately 1.5 seconds to process the reading. The alignment procedure calculates the initial misalignment between the robot and the grid of photodiodes by moving the robot to two distinct points along the robot’s X-axis so that only one laser is over the grid. Using these two detected points, a movement trajectory is generated to move that laser to the X = 0, Y = 0 position on the grid. In the process, this moves the other three lasers over the grid, allowing the system to detect the positions of four lasers and uses the positions to determine the rotational and translational offset needed to align the lasers to the grid of photodiodes. This step is run in a feedback loop to update the adjustment until it is within a permissible error value. The desired result for the complete alignment is a robot manipulator positioning within ±0.5mm along the X and Y-axes. The system shows a maximum error of 0.2mm in the X-direction and 0.5mm in the Y-direction with a run-time of approximately 4 to 5 minutes per alignment. If the permissible error value of the final alignment is tripled the alignment time goes down to 1 to 1.5 minutes and the maximum error goes up to 1.4mm in both the X and Y-directions. The run time of the alignment decreases because the system runs fewer alignment iterations.