• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.3
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• pp.265-281
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• 2024

The sound radiation responses of multi-layer composite plates subjected to harmonic mechanical excitation in hygrothermal environment is numerically investigated. A homogenized micromechanical finite element (FE) based on the higher-order mid-plane kinematics replicating quadratic function as well as the through the thickness stretching effect together with the indirect boundary element (IBE) scheme has been first time employed. The isoparametric Lagrangian element (ten degrees of freedom per node) is used for discretization to attain the hygro-thermo-elastic natural frequencies and the modes of the plate via Hamilton's principle. The effective material properties under combined hygrothermal loading are considered via a micromechanical model. An IBE method is then implemented to attain structure-surrounding coupling and the Helmholtz wave equation is solved to compute the sound radiation responses. The effectiveness of the model is tested by converging it with the similar analytical/numerical results as well as the experimentally acquired data. The present scheme is further hold out for solving diverse numerical illustrations. The results revealed the relevance of the current higher-order FE-IBE micromechanical model in realistic estimation of hygro-thermo-acoustic responses. The geometrical parameters, volume fraction of fiber, layup, and support conditions alongside the hygrothermal load is found to have significant influence on the vibroacoustic characteristics.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.174-179
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• 2021

Currently, fluid transfer steel pipes take a lot of time and expense to maintain all facilities due to new construction and painting or corrosion and aging. Therefore, this study was conducted for designing a CFRP pipe structure with high corrosion resistance and chemical resistance as a substitute for steel pipes. The helical/hoop pattern was cross-laminated to improve durability, and HNT was added to suppress the moisture absorption phenomenon of the epoxy. The HNT/CFRP pipe was manufactured by a filament winding process, and performed a mechanical property test, and a moisture absorption test in distilled water at 70℃. As a result, the highest bending strength was obtained when the hoop pattern was laminated with a thickness equivalent to 0.6% of the pipe. The 0.5 wt% HNT specimen had the highest moisture absorption resistance. Also, the delamination phenomenon at the interlayer interface was delayed, resulting in the lowest strength reduction rate.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.65-79
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• 2022

The main goal of this paper is to study the vibration of damaged core laminated annular plates with FG face sheets based on a three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The structures are made of a damaged isotropic core and two external face sheets. These skins are strengthened at the nanoscale level by randomly oriented Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and are reinforced at the microscale stage by oriented straight fibers. These reinforcing phases are included in a polymer matrix and a three-phase approach based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka scheme and on the Halpin-Tsai approach, which is developed to compute the overall mechanical properties of the composite material. In this study the effect of microcracks on the vibrational characteristic of the sandwich plate is considered. In particular, the structures are made by an isotropic core that undergoes a progressive uniform damage, which is modeled as a decay of the mechanical properties expressed in terms of engineering constants. These defects are uniformly distributed and affect the central layer of the plates independently from the direction, this phenomenon is known as "isotropic damage" and it is fully described by a scalar parameter. Three complicated equations of motion for the sectorial plates under consideration are semi-analytically solved by using 2-D differential quadrature method. Using the 2-D differential quadrature method in the r- and z-directions, allows one to deal with sandwich annular plate with arbitrary thickness distribution of material properties and also to implement the effects of different boundary conditions of the structure efficiently and in an exact manner. The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples. The sandwich annular plate is assumed to have any arbitrary boundary conditions at the circular edges including simply supported, clamped and, free. Several parametric analyses are carried out to investigate the mechanical behavior of these multi-layered structures depending on the damage features, through-the-thickness distribution, and boundary conditions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.665-683
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• 2006

The strength behaviors of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Composites can be greatly influenced by the properties of constitutive materials, the laminate structures, and load conditions etc, accompanied by many uncertainty factors. So the reliability study on FRP is an important subject of research. Many achievements have been made in reliability studies based on the probability theory, but little has been done on the roles played by fuzzy variables. In this paper, a fuzzy reliability model for FRP laminates is established first, in which the loads are considered as random variables and the strengths as fuzzy variables. Then a numerical model is developed to assess the fuzzy reliability. The Monte Carlo simulation method is utilized to compute the reliability of laminas under the maximum stress criterion. In the second part of this paper, a generalized fuzzy reliability model (GFRM) is proposed. By virtue of the fact that there may exist a series of states between the failure state and the function state, a fuzzy assumption for the structure state together with the probabilistic assumption for strength parameters is adopted to construct the GFRM of composite materials. By defining a generalized limit state function, the problem is converted to the conventional reliability formula that enables the first-order reliability method (FORM) applicable in calculating the reliability index. Several examples are worked out to show the validity of the models and the efficiency of the methods proposed in this paper. The parameter sensitivity analysis shows that some of the mean values of the strength parameters have great influence on the laminated composites' reliability. The differences resulting from the application of different failure criteria and different fuzzy assumptions are also discussed. It is concluded that the GFRM is feasible to use, and can provide an effective and synthetic method to evaluate the reliability of a system with different types of uncertainty factors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.439-447
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• 2020

This paper presents two sets of full three-dimensional thermoelastic finite element analyses of superimposed thermo-mechanically loaded Spar Wingskin Joints made with laminated Graphite Fiber Reinforced Plastic composites. The study emphasizes the influence of residual thermal stresses and material anisotropy on the inter-laminar delamination behavior of the joint structure. The delamination has been pre-embedded at the most likely location, i.e., in resin layer between the top and next ply of the fiber reinforced plastic laminated wingskin and near the spar overlap end. Multi-Point Constraint finite elements have been made use of at the vicinity of the delamination fronts. This helps in simulating the growth of the embedded delamination at both ends. The inter-laminar thermoelastic peel and shear stresses responsible for causing delamination damage due to a combined thermal and a static loading have been evaluated. Strain energy release rate components corresponding to the Mode I (opening), Mode II (sliding) and Mode III (tearing) of delamination are determined using the principle of Virtual Crack Closure Technique. These are seen to be different and non-self-similar at the two fronts of the embedded delamination. Residual stresses developed due to the thermoelastic anisotropy of the laminae are found to strongly influence the delamination onset and propagation characteristics, which have been reflected by the asymmetries in the nature of energy release rate plots and their significant variation along the delamination front.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.15-31
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• 2023

Organic solar cells utilized natural polymers to convert solar energy to electricity. The demands for green energy production and less disposal of toxic materials make them one of the interesting candidates for replacing conventional solar cells. However, the different aspects of their properties including mechanical strength and stability are not well recognized. Therefore, in the present study, we aim to explore the chaotic responses of these organic solar cells. In doing so, a specific type of organic solar cell constructed from layers of material with different thicknesses is considered to obtain vibrational and chaotic responses under different boundaries and initial conditions. A square plate structure is examined with first-order shear deformation theory to acquire the displacement field in the laminated structure. The bounding between different layers is considered to be perfect with no sliding and separation. On the other hand, nonlocal elasticity theory is engaged in incorporating the structural effects of the organic material into calculations. Hamilton's principle is adopted to obtain governing equations with regard to boundary conditions and mechanical loadings. The extracted equations of motion were solved using the perturbation method and differential quadrature approach. The results demonstrated the significant effect of relative glass layer thickness on the chaotic behavior of the structure with higher relative thickness leading to less chaotic responses. Moreover, a comprehensive parameter study is presented to examine the effects of nonlocality and relative thicknesses on the natural frequency of square organic solar cell structure.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.358-362
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• 2016

Mechanical properties of static and dynamic behavior became important since the use of conical composite tubes in large structures such as aerospace, planes, and submarines as well as leisure goods such as bicycle frames, fishing rods, and golf shafts. In the past, the mechanical property prediction model for static behavior was studied using vibration, bending, and buckling. But there is a need to study how fiber orientation error affects mechanical properties of conical composite structure because the model assumes constant fiber orientation angle. The purpose of this study is to derive an equation that can predict the static behavior of conical composite tube for bicycle frames by considering fiber orientation error with respect to various design parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.47 no.10
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• pp.687-694
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• 2019

A circular composite spar in the wing of ultra-light aircraft is subjected to both bending moment and transverse shear loads. However, the beam being used in the aircraft may be inefficient because the design would not take into account the characteristics of the circular tube that supports the bending moment in top and bottom arc parts and the transverse load in left and right ones. Therefore, it is necessary to efficiently fabricate the circular tube beam by properly selecting the stacking sequences or the laminated composite structure. In order to increase both bending and transverse shear strengths of the beams, in this study, a cross-section of circular tube is divided into four arcs: top, bottom, left and right ones. The commercial program, MSC/NASTRAN is used to calculate vertical displacement and the normal and shear strains with variation of parameters such as division angle of arc and fiber orientation. Based on the results, the effective parameters for the new circular composite beam are presented to increase its bending and shear strengths.

• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.56-63
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• 2007

An approach using complex potentials is presented for analysis of composite plate with an elliptical hole or a rectilinear crack. Composite structure is susceptible to encounter impact damages, which lead to considerable decrease in its residual strength. Such impact damages could be modeled as an equivalent elliptical hole or notch-like crack. Even though finite element method is widely used to analyze stresses or fracture mechanics parameters around such damage, it is tedious to make successive FE-modeling for damage tolerance assessment under fatigue loadings. In this point of view, the solutions based on complex potentials are very simple and easy to use. The computed results are also compared and discussed with those from FEA.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.495-503
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• 2019

Approximately 90,000 ships are registered in South Korea, and about 80,000 of these ships are used in domestic shipping. Among these, 84% are small ships, such as a fishing vessels that weigh less than 20 tons and are made mostly of an FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastics). When this fact is taken into account, the greenhouse gas emissions that are released per ton of a composite vessel are sizeable. In this study, the laminated structures of an FRP fishing vessel, many of which currently are being built in Korea, were analyzed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and international design rules, and the structures of the hulls are lightweight with optimum glass fiber mass content as determined by the laminate weight minimization algorithm. As a result, it was confirmed that the laminations of the vessels in accordance with the Korean rule could have 6.4% to approximately 11% more design margin compared to the requirements of ISO and other international rules. And the case study of the application of the laminate weight minimization algorithm showed the possibility of reducing the weight of the hull bottom plating by as much as about 19.32% and by as much as about 18.06% in the overall structure.