• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.73-91
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• 2024

This paper has focused on presenting vibration analysis of trapezoidal sandwich plates with a damaged core and FG wavy CNT-reinforced face sheets. A damage model is introduced to provide an analytical description of an irreversible rheological process that causes the decay of the mechanical properties, in terms of engineering constants. An isotropic damage is considered for the core of the sandwich structure. The classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. The First-order shear deformation theory of plate is utilized to establish governing partial differential equations and boundary conditions for the trapezoidal plate. The governing equations together with related boundary conditions are discretized using a mapping-generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method in spatial domain. Then natural frequencies of the trapezoidal sandwich plates are obtained using GDQ method. Validity of the current study is evaluated by comparing its numerical results with those available in the literature. After demonstrating the convergence and accuracy of the method, different parametric studies for laminated trapezoidal structure including carbon nanotubes waviness (0≤w≤1), CNT aspect ratio (0≤AR≤4000), face sheet to core thickness ratio (0.1 ≤ ${\frac{h_f}{h_c}}$ ≤ 0.5), trapezoidal side angles (30° ≤ α, β ≤ 90°) and damaged parameter (0 ≤ D < 1) are carried out. It is explicated that the damaged core and weight fraction, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness and CNT aspect ratio can significantly affect the vibrational behavior of the sandwich structure. Results show that by increasing the values of waviness index (w), normalized natural frequency of the structure decreases, and the straight CNT (w=0) gives the highest frequency. For an overall comprehension on vibration of laminated trapezoidal plates, some selected vibration mode shapes were graphically represented in this study.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.557-568
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• 2018

An investigation is made in the present work on the post-buckling and geometrically nonlinear behaviors of moderately thick perfect and imperfect rectangular plates made-up of functionally graded materials. Spectral collocation approach based on Legendre basis functions is developed to analyze the functionally graded plates while they are subjected to end-shortening strain. The material properties in this study are varied through the thickness according to the simple power law distribution. The fundamental equations for moderately thick rectangular plates are derived using first order shear deformation plate theory and taking into account both geometric nonlinearity and initial geometric imperfections. In the current study, the domain of interest is discretized with Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto nodes. The equilibrium equations will be obtained by discretizing the Von-Karman's equilibrium equations and also boundary conditions with finite Legendre basis functions that are substituted into the displacement fields. Due to effect of geometric nonlinearity, the final set of equilibrium equations is nonlinear and therefore the quadratic extrapolation technique is used to solve them. Since the number of equations in this approach will always be more than the number of unknown coefficients, the least squares technique will be used. Finally, the effects of boundary conditions, initial geometric imperfection and material properties are investigated and discussed to demonstrate the validity and capability of proposed method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.6
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• pp.809-819
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• 2020

For the first time, the influence of in-plane magnetic field on wave propagation of Graphene Nano-Platelets (GNPs) polymer composite nanoplates is investigated here. The impact of three- parameter Kerr foundation is also considered. There are two different reinforcement distribution patterns (i.e. uniformly and non-uniformly) while the material properties of the nanoplate are estimated through the Halpin-Tsai model and a rule of mixture. To consider the size-dependent behavior of the structure, Eringen Nonlocal Differential Model (ENDM) is utilized. The equations of wave motion derived based on a higher-order shear deformation refined theory through Hamilton's principle and an analytical technique depending on Taylor series utilized to find the wave frequency as well as phase velocity of the GNPs reinforced nanoplates. A parametric investigation is performed to determine the influence of essential phenomena, such as the nonlocality, GNPs conditions, Kerr foundation parameters, and wave number on the both longitudinal and flexural wave characteristics of GNPs reinforced nanoplates.

• Composites Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.217-223
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• 2012

This study investigates a geometrical nonlinear dynamic behaviors of laminated skew plates made of advanced composite materials (ACM). Based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT), the Newmark method and Newton-Raphson iteration are used for the nonlinear dynamic solution. The effects of cutout sizes, skew angles and lay up sequences on the nonlinear dynamic response for various parameters are studied using a nonlinear dynamic finite element program developed for this study. The several numerical results were in good agreement with those reported by other investigators for square composite plates with or without central cutouts, and the new results reported in this paper show the significant interactions between the cutout, skew angles and layup sequence in the laminate. Key observation points are discussed and a brief design guideline of skew laminates is given.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.15-28
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• 2016

Although the aircraft industry was the first to use fibre composites, now they are increasingly used in a range of structural applications such as flooring, decking, platforms and roofs. Interlayer delamination is a major failure mode which threatens the reliability of composite structures. Delamination can grow in size under increasing loads with time and hence leads to severe loss of structural integrity and stiffness reduction. Delamination reduces the natural frequency and as a consequence may result in resonance. Hence, the study of the effects of delamination on the free vibration behaviour of multilayer composite structures is imperative. The focus of this paper is to develop a 3D FE model and investigate the free vibration behaviour of fibre composite multilayer sandwich panels with interlayer delaminations. A series of parametric studies are conducted to assess the influence of various parameters of concern, using a commercially available finite element package. Additionally, selected points in the delaminated region are connected appropriately to simulate bolting as a remedial measure to fasten the delamination region in the aim of reducing the effects of delamination. First order shear deformation theory based plate elements have been used to model each sandwich layer. The findings suggest that the delamination size and the end fixity of the plate are the most important factors responsible for stiffness reduction due to delamination damage in composite laminates. It is also revealed that bolting the delaminated region can significantly reduce the natural frequency variation due to delamination thereby improving the dynamic performance.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.505-534
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• 2012

The present work deals with second order statistics of post buckling response of piezoelectric laminated composite cylindrical shell panel subjected to hygro-thermo-electro-mechanical loading with random system properties. System parameters such as the material properties, thermal expansion coefficients and lamina plate thickness are assumed to be independent of the temperature and electric field and modeled as random variables. The piezoelectric material is used in the forms of layers surface bonded on the layers of laminated composite shell panel. The mathematical formulation is based on higher order shear deformation shell theory (HSDT) with von-Karman nonlinear kinematics. A efficient $C^0$ nonlinear finite element method based on direct iterative procedure in conjunction with a first order perturbation approach (FOPT) is developed for the implementation of the proposed problems in random environment and is employed to evaluate the second order statistics (mean and variance) of the post buckling load of piezoelectric laminated cylindrical shell panel. Typical numerical results are presented to examine the effect of various environmental conditions, amplitude ratios, electrical voltages, panel side to thickness ratios, aspect ratios, boundary conditions, curvature to side ratios, lamination schemes and types of loadings with random system properties. It is observed that the piezoelectric effect has a significant influence on the stochastic post buckling response of composite shell panel under various loading conditions and some new results are presented to demonstrate the applications of present work. The results obtained using the present solution approach is validated with those results available in the literature and also with independent Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.603-619
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• 2018

In this research, an effective computational technique is carried out for nonlinear and post-buckling analyses of cracked imperfect composite plates. The laminated plates are assumed to be moderately thick so that the analysis can be carried out based on the first-order shear deformation theory. Geometric non-linearity is introduced in the way of von-Karman assumptions for the strain-displacement equations. The Ritz technique is applied using Legendre polynomials for the primary variable approximations. The crack is modeled by partitioning the entire domain of the plates into several sub-plates and therefore the plate decomposition technique is implemented in this research. The penalty technique is used for imposing the interface continuity between the sub-plates. Different out-of-plane essential boundary conditions such as clamp, simply support or free conditions will be assumed in this research by defining the relevant displacement functions. For in-plane boundary conditions, lateral expansions of the unloaded edges are completely free while the loaded edges are assumed to move straight but restricted to move laterally. With the formulation presented here, the plates can be subjected to biaxial compressive loads, therefore a sensitivity analysis is performed with respect to the applied load direction, along the parallel or perpendicular to the crack axis. The integrals of potential energy are numerically computed using Gauss-Lobatto quadrature formulas to get adequate accuracy. Then, the obtained non-linear system of equations is solved by the Newton-Raphson method. Finally, the results are presented to show the influence of crack length, various locations of crack, load direction, boundary conditions and different values of initial imperfection on nonlinear and post-buckling behavior of laminates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.6
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• pp.627-641
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• 2019

The paper focuses on bending analysis of the functionally graded (FG) plates with arbitrary shapes and boundary conditions. The material property of FG plates is modelled by using the power law distribution. Based on the first order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT), the governing equations as well as boundary conditions are formulated and obtained by using the principle of virtual work. The coupled Boundary Element-Radial Basis Function (BE-RBF) method is established to solve the complex FG plates. The proposed methodology is developed by applying the concept of the analog equation method (AEM). According to the AEM, the original governing differential equations are replaced by three Poisson equations with fictitious sources under the same boundary conditions. Then, the fictitious sources are established by the application of a technique based on the boundary element method and approximated by using the radial basis functions. The solution of the actual problem is attained from the known integral representations of the potential problem. Therefore, the kernels of the boundary integral equations are conveniently evaluated and readily determined, so that the complex FG plates can be easily computed. The reliability of the proposed method is evaluated by comparing the present results with those from analytical solutions. The effects of the power index, the length to thickness ratio and the modulus ratio on the bending responses are investigated. Finally, many interesting features and results obtained from the analysis of the FG plates with arbitrary shapes and boundary conditions are demonstrated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.785-802
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• 2018

In this paper, two different computational methods, called Rayleigh-Ritz and collocation are developed to estimate the ultimate strength of composite plates. Progressive damage behavior of moderately thick composite laminated plates is studied under in-plane compressive load and uniform lateral pressure. The formulations of both methods are based on the concept of the principle of minimum potential energy. First order shear deformation theory and the assumption of large deflections are used to develop the equilibrium equations of laminated plates. Therefore, Newton-Raphson technique will be used to solve the obtained system of nonlinear algebraic equations. In Rayleigh-Ritz method, two degradation models called complete and region degradation models are used to estimate the degradation zone around the failure location. In the second method, a new energy based collocation technique is introduced in which the domain of the plate is discretized into the Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto points. In this new method, in addition to the two previous models, the new model named node degradation model will also be used in which the material properties of the area just around the failed node are reduced. To predict the failure location, Hashin failure criteria have been used and the corresponding material properties of the failed zone are reduced instantaneously. Approximation of the displacement fields is performed by suitable harmonic functions in the Rayleigh-Ritz method and by Legendre basis functions (LBFs) in the second method. Finally, the results will be calculated and discussions will be conducted on the methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.61-71
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• 2007

Navier's and Finite element solutions based on the first-order shear deformation theory are presented for the analysis of through-thickness functionally graded plates and shells. The functionally graded materials are considered: a sigmoid function is utilized for the mechanical properties through the thickness of the isotropic structure which varies smoothly through the plate and shell thickness. The formulation of a nonlinear 9-node Element-based Lagrangian shell element is presented for the geometrically nonlinear analysis. Natural-coordinate-based strains are used in present shell element. Numerical results of the linear and nonlinear analysis are presented to show the effect of the different top/bottom elastic modulus, loading conditions, aspect ratios and side-to-thickness ratios on the mechanical behaviors. Besides, the result according to the variation of the power-law index of isotropic functionally graded structures is investigated.