A new FE model based on higher order zigzag theory for the analysis of laminated sandwich beam with soft core

A new finite element (FE) model has been developed based on higher order zigzag theory (HOZT) for the static analysis of laminated sandwich beam with soft core. In this theory, the in-plane displacement variation is considered to be cubic for both the face sheets and the core. The transverse displacement is assumed to vary quadratically within the core while it remains constant in the faces beyond the core. The proposed model satisfies the condition of transverse shear stress continuity at the layer interfaces and the zero transverse shear stress condition at the top and bottom of the beam. The nodal field variables are chosen in an efficient manner to overcome the problem of continuity requirement of the derivatives of transverse displacements. A C₀ quadratic beam finite element is implemented to model the HOZT for the present analysis. Numerical examples covering different features of laminated composite and sandwich beams are presented to illustrate the accuracy of the present model. Many new results are also presented which should be useful for future research.     

Vibration analysis of beams with non‐local foundations using the finite element method

In this paper, a non‐local viscoelastic foundation model is proposed and used to analyse the dynamics of beams with different boundary conditions using the finite element method. Unlike local foundation models the reaction of the non‐local model is obtained as a weighted average of state variables over a spatial domain via convolution integrals with spatial kernel functions that depend on a distance measure. In the finite element analysis, the interpolating shape functions of the element displacement field are identical to those of standard two‐node beam elements. However, for non‐local elasticity or damping, nodes remote from the element do have an effect on the energy expressions, and hence the damping and stiffness matrices. The expressions of these direct and cross‐matrices for stiffness and damping may be obtained explicitly for some common spatial kernel functions. Alternatively numerical integration may be applied to obtain solutions. Numerical results for eigenvalues and associated eigenmodes of Euler–Bernoulli beams are presented and compared (where possible) with results in literature using exact solutions and Galerkin approximations. The examples demonstrate that the finite element technique is efficient for the dynamic analysis of beams with non‐local viscoelastic foundations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficient laminated composite beam element subjected to variable axial force for coupled stability analysis

A numerically efficient laminated composite beam element subjected to a variable axial force is presented for a coupled stability analysis. The analytical technique is used to present the thin-walled laminated composite beam theory considering the transverse shear and the restrained warping-induced shear deformation based on an orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system. The elastic strain energy and the potential energy due to the variable axial force are introduced. The equilibrium equations are derived from the energy principle, and explicit expressions for the displacement parameters are presented using the power series expansions of displacement components. Finally, the member stiffness matrix is determined using the force–displacement relations. In order to verify accuracy and efficiency of the beam element developed in this study, numerical results are presented and compared with results from other researchers and the finite beam element results, and the detailed finite shell element analysis results using ABAQUS; especially, the influence of variable axial forces, the fiber orientation, and boundary conditions on the buckling behavior of the laminated composite beams is parametrically investigated.     

Vibration of multilayered beams using sinus finite elements with transverse normal stress

A family of sinus models is presented for the analysis of laminated beams in the framework of free vibration. A three-noded finite element is developed with a sinus distribution with layer refinement. The transverse shear strain is obtained by using a cosine function avoiding the use of shear correction factors. This kinematic accounts for the interlaminar continuity conditions on the interfaces between the layers, and the boundary conditions on the upper and lower surfaces of the beam. A conforming FE approach is carried out using Lagrange and Hermite interpolations. It is important to notice that the number of unknowns is independent of the number of layers. Vibration mechanical tests for thin and thick laminated and sandwich beams are presented in order to evaluate the capability of these new finite elements to give accurate results with respect to elasticity or finite element reference solutions. Both convergence velocity and accuracy are discussed and these new finite elements yield very accurate results at a low computational cost for various boundary conditions. In particular, the two models including the transverse normal effect have the capability to take into account the thickness mode shape.     

Instability of laminated composite thin-walled open-section beams

Instability of thin-walled open-section laminated composite beams is studied using the finite element method. A two-noded, 8 df per node thin-walled open-section laminated composite beam finite element has been used. The displacements of the element reference axis are expressed in terms of one-dimensional first order Hermite interpolation polynomials, and line member assumptions are invoked in formulation of the elastic stiffness matrix and geometric stiffness matrix. The nonlinear expressions for the strains occurring in thin-walled open-section beams, when subjected to axial, flexural and torsional loads, are incorporated in a general instability analysis. Several problems for which continuum solutions (exact/approximate) are possible have been solved in order to evaluate the performance of finite element. Next its applicability is demonstrated by predicting the buckling loads for the following problems of laminated composites: (i) two layer (45°/−45°) composite Z section cantilever beam and (ii) three layer (0°/45°/0°) composite Z section cantilever beam.     

A semi-analytical finite element model for the analysis of laminated 3D axisymmetric shells: Bending, free vibration and buckling

A general semi-analytical finite element model is developed for bending, free vibration and buckling analysis of shells of revolution made of laminated orthotropic elastic material. The 3D elasticity theory is used and the equations of motion are obtained by expanding the displacement field and load in the Fourier series in terms of the circumferential coordinate, θ. The coefficients of the expansion are functions of (r, z), and they are approximated using the finite element method. This leads to a semi-analytical finite element in the (r, z) plane. The element is validated by comparing the present results with the analytical and numerical solutions available in the literature.     

A C<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis></Superscript> continuous generalized finite element formulation applied to laminated Kirchhoff plate model

A generalized finite element method based on a partition of unity (POU) with smooth approximation functions is investigated in this paper for modeling laminated plates under Kirchhoff hypothesis. The shape functions are built from the product of a Shepard POU and enrichment functions. The Shepard functions have a smoothness degree directly related to the weight functions adopted for their evaluation. The weight functions at a point are built as products of C ^∞ edge functions of the distance of such a point to each of the cloud boundaries. Different edge functions are investigated to generate C ^k functions. The POU together with polynomial global enrichment functions build the approximation subspace. The formulation implemented in this paper is aimed at the general case of laminated plates composed of anisotropic layers. A detailed convergence analysis is presented and the integrability of these functions is also discussed.     

A beam finite element for magneto-electro-elastic multilayered composite structures

A new finite element based upon an elastic equivalent single-layer model for shear deformable and straight magneto-electro-elastic generally laminated beam is presented. The element has six degrees of freedom represented by the displacement components and the cross-section rotation of its two nodes. The magneto-electric boundary conditions enter the discrete problem as work-equivalent forces and moments while the electro-magnetic state characterization constitutes a post-processing step. The element possesses the superconvergence property for the static problem of beams with uniform cross-section and homogenous material properties along the beam axis direction. Moreover, it is free from the shear locking phenomenon. The developed finite element is validated through comparison with plane-stress results for piezoelectric and magneto-electro-elastic structures. Last, applications for more complex magneto-electro-elastic systems are described.     

Coupling effects in bending, buckling and free vibration of generally laminated composite beams

A closed form expression to determine the effective flexural modulus of a laminated composite beam is developed and presented in this contribution. This effective flexural modulus is applied to the bending, buckling and free vibration response of generally laminated composite beams with various boundary supports. The expression was developed using the combination of the Euler–Bernoulli beam and classical lamination theory. In addition the results of an extensive finite element analysis are used to validate the analytical model. The comparison of the analytical results, the finite element results and the experimental results showed good correlation. It is also observed that coupling response is an important variable that must be included in the computation of the effective flexural stiffness of generally laminated beam.     

Simple Efficient Smart Finite Elements for the Analysis of Smart Composite Beams

This paper is concerned with the development of new simple 4-noded locking-alleviated smart finite elements for modeling the smart composite beams. The exact solutions for the static responses of the overall smart composite beams are also derived for authenticating the new smart finite elements. The overall smart composite beam is composed of a laminated substrate conventional composite beam, and a piezoelectric layer attached at the top surface of the substrate beam. The piezoelectric layer acts as the actuator layer of the smart beam. Alternate finite element models of the beams, based on an “equivalent single layer high order shear deformation theory”, and a “layer-wise high order shear deformation theory”, are also derived for the purpose of investigating the required number of elements across the thickness of the overall smart composite beams. Several cross-ply substrate beams are considered for presenting the results. The responses computed by the present new “smart finite element model” excellently match with those obtained by the exact solutions. The new smart finite elements developed here reveal that the development of finite element models of smart composite beams does not require the use of conventional first order or high order or layer-wise shear deformation theories of beams. Instead, the use of the presently developed locking-free 4-node elements based on conventional linear piezo-elasticity is sufficient.     

A higher-order facet quadrilateral composite shell element

A C⁰ finite element formulation of flat faceted element based on a higher-order displacement model is presented for the analysis of general, thin-to-thick, fibre reinforced composite laminated plates and shells. This theory incorporates a realistic non-linear variation of displacements through the shell thickness, and eliminates the use of shear correction coefficients. The discrete element chosen is a nine-noded quadrilateral with five and nine degrees of freedom per node. A comparison of results is also made with the 2-D thin classical and 3-D exact analytical results, and finite element solutions with 9-noded first-order element. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

C beam elements based on the Refined Zigzag Theory for multilayered composite and sandwich laminates

The paper deals with the development and computational assessment of three- and two-node beam finite elements based on the Refined Zigzag Theory (RZT) for the analysis of multilayered composite and sandwich beams. RZT is a recently proposed structural theory that accounts for the stretching, bending, and transverse shear deformations, and which provides substantial improvements over previously developed zigzag and higher-order theories. This new theory is analytically rigorous, variationally consistent, and computationally attractive. The theory is not affected by anomalies of most previous zigzag and higher-order theories, such as the vanishing of transverse shear stress and force at clamped boundaries. In contrast to Timoshenko theory, RZT does not employ shear correction factors to yield accurate results. From the computational mechanics perspective RZT requires C⁰-continuous shape functions and thus enables the development of efficient displacement-type finite elements. The focus of this paper is to explore several low-order beam finite elements that offer the best compromise between computational efficiency and accuracy. The initial attention is on the choice of shape functions that do not admit shear locking effects in slender beams. For this purpose, anisoparametric (aka interdependent) interpolations are adapted to approximate the four independent kinematic variables that are necessary to model the planar beam deformations. To achieve simple two-node elements, several types of constraint conditions are examined and corresponding deflection shape-functions are derived. It is recognized that the constraint condition requiring a constant variation of the transverse shear force gives rise to a remarkably accurate two-node beam element. The proposed elements and their predictive capabilities are assessed using several elastostatic example problems, where simply supported and cantilevered beams are analyzed over a range of lamination sequences, heterogeneous material properties, and slenderness ratios.     

Stability analysis of delaminated composite beams

This study describes the dynamic stability of composite cantilever beams subjected to periodic axial loading with delaminations at pre-set locations. A computer code based on the finite element method is developed to calculate the natural frequencies, critical buckling loads and dynamic instability regions of the woven and laminated composite beams with different stacking sequences ([0]₄, [0/90]_s and [90]₄), corresponding to this peculiar delamination case. The results of the developed code for the natural frequencies are compared with the natural frequencies obtained experimentally and numerically with commercial FEA (ANSYS). The critical buckling loads are also compared with the ones obtained from ANSYS simulations.     

Delamination detection in laminated composite beams using hybrid elements

This investigation pursues two goals. One of them is developing a three-dimensional finite element with an embedded interface for analyzing the laminated composite structure. The composite element efficiency is numerically proven. Delaminatoin is an important failure mechanism in certain types of composite structures. Detecting this type of damage is currently a problem of interest to the structural health monitoring community. The second goal of the paper is presenting a novel and well-organized procedure for the identification of delaminatoin in laminated composite beams. The damage identification scheme is formulated by an inverse problem, where analysis data from related finite element modeling, are used to quantify the magnitude and local of delaminatoin. The inverse problem is then transformed to an optimization statement, and the optimum delaminatoin parameters are found by minimizing the objective function. In this study, a genetic algorithm is used for the optimization process. Several numerical examples are analyzed for the accuracy test, and a few of them are presented here.     

对称非均匀层合板梁的弯扭耦合效应

为了研究复合材料风力机叶片的弯扭耦合效应,将风力机叶片简化为对称非均匀铺层层合板梁,采用实验和数值分析方法研究耦合区域对叶片弯扭耦合效应的影响。给出了对称非均匀层合板梁的铺层方式及其制作工艺,设计了对称非均匀层合板梁的弯扭耦合效应实验,给出了实验原理及测量方法,测量了对称非均匀层合板梁的挠度和扭转角。基于ANSYS软件建立了对称非均匀层合板梁的有限元模型,计算了在集中力载荷作用下梁的变形。通过有限元数值分析结果与实验结果对比,结果表明:耦合区域对对称非均匀层合板梁的变形行为产生重要影响,采用中部耦合区域铺层方式可以获得显著的弯扭耦合效应。     

Analysis of delamination fatigue growth for delaminated piezoelectric elasto-plastic laminated beams under hygrothermal conditions

A nonlinear analysis model of fatigue delamination growth for piezoelectric elasto-plastic laminated beams under hygrothermal conditions is presented. Based on the incremental elasto-plastic constitutive equations, the incremental nonlinear governing equations of the piezoelectric elasto-plastic laminated beams with delamination are derived when taking into account the hygrothermal environments, transverse shear deformation, geometrical nonlinearity and piezoelectric effect. According to the elasto-plastic fracture dynamics and J-integral theory, the energy-release-rate along the delamination is obtained. Then, applying the Paris law, the delamination growth rate is obtained and the delamination growth lengths along the delamination fronts under cyclic loads are finally determined by using the cyclic skip method. The equations are solved by the finite difference method and iterative method as a whole. Effects of voltages, variation of temperature and humidity, delamination length and depth on the energy-release-rate and delamination growth length for the piezoelectric elasto-plastic laminated beams are discussed in numerical examples.     

An adhesively laminated plate element for PZT smart plates

An adhesively laminated element taking into consideration peel stress is developed for a piezoelectric smart plate. In this novel finite element analysis formulation, a four node piezoelectric element is firstly derived, and an adhesive element of finite thickness with both shear and peel stiffness is sandwiched between two collocated four node plate elements to form an adhesively laminated element for a piezoelectric smart plate. In this framework of finite element analysis, because the displacement filed in this adhesively laminated element is continuous and a plate element is derived based on the Reissner–Mindlin plate theory, and thus it can be accurately applied to a thin or moderately thick host plate with bonded or debonded piezoelectric actuators and sensors. The formulation is performed for an isotropic host plate and a fiber reinforced laminate plate. Numerical results are presented to compare with those of the exact solutions for smart beams, and validate with the experimental results of the isotropic and composite host plates available in the literature. Using the present finite element analysis formulation, energy transfer stresses in the adhesive and equivalent forces induced in the host plate are investigated. The present formulation is demonstrated to allow debondings of piezoelectric patches and the debonding detection.The authors are grateful to the support of the Australian Research Council via a Discovery Projects grant (grant No: DP0346419).     

Nonlinear viscoelastic analysis of orthotropic beams using a general third-order theory

The displacement based finite element model of a general third-order beam theory is developed to study the quasi-static behavior of viscoelastic rectangular orthotropic beams. The mechanical properties are considered to be linear viscoelastic in nature with a scope to undergo von Kármán nonlinear geometric deformations. A differential constitutive law is developed for an orthotropic linear viscoelastic beam under the assumptions of plane-stress. The fully discretized finite element equations are obtained by approximating the convolution integrals using a trapezoidal rule. A two-point recurrence scheme is developed that necessitates storage of data from the previous time step only, and not from the entire deformation history. Full integration is used to evaluate all the stiffness terms using spectral/hp lagrange polynomials. The Newton iterative scheme is employed to enhance the rate of convergence of the nonlinear finite element equations. Numerical examples are presented to study the viscoelastic phenomena like creep, cyclic creep and recovery for thick and thin beams using classical mechanical analogues like generalized n-parameter Kelvin-Voigt solids and Maxwell solids.     

Finite element formulation for anisotropic coupled piezoelectro‐hygro‐thermo‐viscoelasto‐dynamic problems

A finite element algorithm has been developed for the efficient analysis of smart composite structures with piezoelectric polymer sensors or/and actuators based on piezoelectro‐hygro‐thermo‐viscoelasticity. Variational principles for anisotropic coupled piezoelectro‐hygro‐thermo‐viscoelasto‐dynamic problems have also been proposed in this study. As illustrative studies, dynamic responses in laminated composite beams and plates with PVDF sensors and actuators are obtained as functions of time using the present finite element procedures. The voltage feedback control scheme is utilized. The proposed numerical method can be used for analysing problems in the design of smart structures as well as smart sensors and actuators. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.