• Advances in nano research
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.593-603
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• 2022

The critical buckling temperature rise of a newly proposed piezoelectrically active sandwich plate (ASP) has been investigated in this work. This structure includes a porous polymeric layer integrated between two piezoelectric nanocomposite layers. The piezoelectric material is made of a passive polymeric material that is activated by lead-free nanowires (NWs) of zinc oxide (ZnO) embedded inside the matrix. In both nanocomposite layers and porous core, functional graded (FG) patterns have been considered for the distributions of ZnO NWs and voids, respectively. By adopting a higher-order theory of plates, the governing equations of thermal buckling are obtained. This set of equations is then treated using an extended mesh-free solution. The effects of plate dimensions, porosity states, and the nanowire parameters have been investigated on the critical buckling temperature rises of the proposed lightweight ASPs with different boundary conditions. The results disclose that the use of porosities in the core and/or mixing ZnO NWs in the face sheets substantially arise the critical buckling temperatures of the newly proposed active sandwich plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.553-563
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• 2023

In the current research, the nonlinear free vibrations of curved pipes made of functionally graded (FG) carbon nanotube reinforced composite (CNTRC) materials are investigated. It is assumed that the FG-CNTRC curved pipe is supported on a three-parameter nonlinear elastic foundation and is subjected to a uniform temperature rise. Properties of the curved nanocomposite pipe are distributed across the radius of the pipe and are given by means of a refined rule of mixtures approach. It is also assumed that all thermomechanical properties of the nanocomposite pipe are temperature-dependent. The governing equations of the curved pipe are obtained using a higher order shear deformation theory, where the traction free boundary conditions are satisfied on the top and bottom surfaces of the pipe. The von Kármán type of geometrical non-linearity is included into the formulation to consider the large deflection in the curved nanocomposite pipe. For the case of nanocomposite curved pipes which are simply supported in flexure and axially immovable, the motion equations are solved using the two-step perturbation technique. The closed-form expressions are provided to obtain the small- and large-amplitude frequencies of FG-CNTRC curved pipes rested on a nonlinear elastic foundation in thermal environment. Numerical results are given to explore the effects of CNT distribution pattern, the CNT volume fraction, thermal environment, nonlinear foundation stiffness, and geometrical parameters on the fundamental linear and nonlinear frequencies of the curved nanocomposite pipe.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.377-400
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• 2022

The aim of this work is a numerical comparison (FEM) between lattice pyramidal-core panel and honeycomb core panel for different core thicknesses. By evaluating the mid-span deflection, the shear rigidity and the shear modulus for both core types and different core thicknesses, it is possible to define which core type has got the best mechanical behaviour for each thickness and the evolution of that behaviour as far as the thickness increases. Since a specific base geometry has been used for the lattice pyramidal core, the comparison gives us the opportunity to investigate the unit cell strut angle giving the higher mechanical properties. The presented work considers a detailed FEM modelling of a standard 3-point bending test (ASTM C393/C393M Standard Practice). Detailed FEM modelling addresses to detailed discretization of cores by means of beam elements for lattice core and shell elements for honeycomb core. Facings, instead, have been modelled by using shell elements for both sandwich panels. On lattice core structure, elements of core and facings are directly connected, to better simulate the additive manufacturing process. Otherwise, an MPC-based constraint between facings and core has been used for honeycomb core structure. Both sandwich panels are entirely built of Aluminium alloy. Prior to compare the two models, the FEM sandwich panel model with lattice pyramidal core needs to be validated with 3-point bending test experimental results, in order to ensure a good reliability of the FEM approach and of the comparison. Furthermore, the analytical validation has been performed according to Allen's theory. The FEM analysis is linear static with an increasing midspan load ranging from 50N up to 500N.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.621-640
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• 2022

In the present article, the vibration response of a geometrically imperfect bi-directional functionally graded plate (2D-FGP) with geometric discontinuities and micro-structural defects (porosities) has been investigated. A porosity model has been developed to incorporate the effective material properties of the bi-directional FGP which varies in two directions i.e. along the axial and transverse direction. The geometric discontinuity is also introduced in the plate in the form of a circular cut-out at the center of the plate. The structural kinematic formulation is based on the non-polynomial trigonometric higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). Finite element formulation is done using C° continuous Lagrangian quadrilateral four-noded element with seven degrees of freedom per node. The equations of motion have been derived using a variational approach. Convergence and validation studies have been documented to confirm the accuracy and efficiency of the present formulation. A detailed investigation study has been done to evaluate the influence of the circular cut-out, geometric imperfection, porosity inclusions, partial supports, volume fraction indexes (along with the thickness and length), and geometrical configurations on the vibration response of 2D-FGP. It is concluded that after a particular cut-out dimension, the vibration response of the 2D FGP exhibits non-monotonic behavior.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.641-652
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• 2022

Fluid-conveying tubes are widely used to transport oil and natural gas in industries. As an advanced composite material, functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composites (FG-CNTRC) have great potential to empower the industry. However, nonlinear free vibration of the FG-CNTRC fluid-conveying pipe has not been attempted in thermal environment. In this paper, the nonlinear free vibration characteristic of functionally graded nanocomposite fluid-conveying pipe reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in thermal environment is investigated. The SWCNTs gradient distributed in the thickness direction of the pipe forms different reinforcement patterns. The material properties of the FG-CNTRC are estimated by rule of mixture. A higher-order shear deformation theory and Hamilton's variational principle are employed to derive the motion equations incorporating the thermal and fluid effects. A two-step perturbation method is implemented to obtain the closed-form asymptotic solutions for these nonlinear partial differential equations. The nonlinear frequencies under several reinforcement patterns are presented and discussed. We conduct a series of studies aimed at revealing the effects of the flow velocity, the environment temperature, the inner-outer diameter ratio, and the carbon nanotube volume fraction on the nature frequency.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.625-639
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• 2023

In this paper, a Taguchi-based finite element method (FEM) has been proposed and implemented to assess optimal design parameters for minimum static deflection in laminated composite plate. An orthodox mathematical model (based on higher-order shear deformation plate theory and Green-Lagrange geometrical nonlinearity) has been used to compute the nonlinear central deflection values of laminated composite plates according to Taguchi design of experiment via a self-developed MATLAB computer code. The lay-up scheme, aspect ratio, thickness ratio and the support conditions of the laminated composite plate structure were designated as the governable design parameters. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to investigate the effect of diverse control factors on the nonlinear static responses. Moreover, regression model is developed for predicting the desired responses. The ANOVA revealed that the lay-up scheme alongside the support condition plays vital role in minimizing the central deflection values of laminated composite plate under uniformly distributed load. The conformity test results of Taguchi analysis are also in good agreement with the numerical experimentation results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.335-351
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• 2023

This research studies the primary resonance and nonlinear vibratory responses of multilayer functionally graded shallow (MFGS) shells under external excitations. The shells considered with functionally graded porous (FGP) core and resting on two types of nonlinear viscoelastic foundations (NVEF) governed by either a linear model with two parameters of Winkler and Pasternak foundations or a nonlinear model of hardening/softening cubic stiffness augmented by a Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic model. The shells considered have three layers, sandwiched by functionally graded (FG), FGP, and FG materials. To investigate the influence of various porosity distributions, two types of FGP middle layer cores are considered. With the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT), Hooke's law, and von-Kármán equation, the stress-strain relations for the MFGS shells with FGP core are developed. The governing equations of the shells are consequently derived. For the sake of higher accuracy and reliability, the P-T method is implemented in numerically analyzing the vibration, and the method of multiple scales (MMS) as one of the perturbation methods is used to investigate the primary resonance. The results of the present research are verified with the results available in the literature. The analytical results are compared with the P-T method. The influences of material, geometry, and nonlinear viscoelastic foundation parameters on the responses of the shells are illustrated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.531-543
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• 2022

An exact dynamic analytical method for free vibrations of continuous partial-interaction composite beams is proposed based on the Timoshenko beam theory. The main advantage of this method is that the independent shear deformations and rotary inertia of sub-beams are considered, which is more in line with the reality. Therefore, the accuracy of eigenfrequencies obtained by this method is significantly improved, especially for higher order modes, compared to the existing methods where the rotary angles of both sub-beams are assumed to be equal irrespective of the differences in the shear stiffness of each sub-beam. Furthermore, the solutions obtained by the proposed method are exact owing to no introduction of approximated displacement and force fields in the derivation. In addition, an exact analytical solution for the case of simply supported is obtained. Based on this, an approximate expression for the fundamental frequency of continuous partial-interaction composite beams is also proposed, which is useful for practical engineering applications. Finally, the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed method and the approximate expression are explored using numerical and experimental examples; The influence factors including the interfacial interaction, shear modulus ratio, span-to-depth ratio, and side-to-main span length ratio on the eigenfrequencies are presented and discussed in detail.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.349-366
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• 2022

The ability of baffles in increasing the sloshing damping is investigated in this study by theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods. Baffles Installed as separators in containers, can change the dynamic properties of sloshing. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of baffle placement.The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of placing baffles in order to provide appropriate frequencies and damping and to present a practical baffle arrangement in the design ofsloshing. In this regard, an experimental setup is designed to study the fluid sloshing behavior and damping properties in cylindrical tanks filled up to an arbitrary depth. A new combination of annular and sectorial baffles is employed to evaluate fluid sloshing in the tank. The results show that the proposed baffle arrangement has a desired effect on the damping and fluid sloshing frequencies and optimally satisfies the anticipated design requirements. In addition, the theoretical frequencies exceed empirical frequencies at the points far from baffles, while at the points close to baffles, the empirical ones are higher than theoretical ones. Also, at the depths near the bottom of container sloshing frequencies are not affected by sectorial baffles, although the theoretical curve predicts a reduction in the fundamental frequency of sloshing. Finally, the results of finite volume and finite element methods which compared with experimental data, indicated a good agreement between different approaches.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.367-383
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• 2023

The present paper examines the natural frequency responses of the bi-directional (n_x-n_y, n_y-n_z and n_z-n_x) and multidirectional (n_x-n_y-n_z) functionally graded (FG) plate and curved structures with and without porosity. The even and uneven kind of porosity pattern are considered to observe the influence of porosity type and porosity index. The numerical findings have been obtained using a higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) based isometric finite element (FE) approach generated in a MATLAB platform. According to the convergence and validation investigation, the proposed HSDT based FE model is adequate to predict free vibrational responses of multidirectional porous FG plates and curved structures. Further a parametric analysis is carried out by taking various design parameters into account. The free vibrational behavior of bidirectional (2D) and multidirectional (3D) perfect-imperfect FGM structure is examined against various power law index, support conditions, aspect, and thickness ratio, and for the curvature of curved structures. The results indicate that the maximum non-dimensional fundamental frequency (NFF) value is observed in perfect FGM plates and curved structures compared to porous FGM plates and curved structures and it is maximum for FGM plates and curved structures with uneven kind of porosity than even porosity.