Design and Optimization of Variable Stiffness Composite Cylinders With the Consideration of Manufacturing Interaction

Applied Composite Materials - In this study, a variable stiffness (VS) composite cylinder subjected to bending load is designed and optimized for maximum buckling load incorporating the effect of...     

Circumferential stiffness tailoring of general cross section cylinders for maximum buckling load with strength constraints

Stiffness tailoring of laminated composite structures using steered fibre tows is a design method that maximally uses the directional properties of composite materials. Cylindrical structures usually have circular cross sections while some application, geometric or aerodynamic requirements can necessitate other cross sections, e.g. elliptical. Circumferential tailoring can increase the buckling load of thin cylinders by compensating for non-uniform sectional loading such as bending and/or varying radius of curvature in general cylinders. Here, strength constraints are considered in maximum buckling load design, to ensure that the failure load is greater than the buckling load. A two-step optimisation framework is used to separate the theoretical and manufacturing issues in design. A computationally cheap semi-analytical finite difference method is used to solve the linear static and buckling problems. Conservative failure envelopes based on Tsai-Wu failure criterion are used for strength evaluation. To avoid repetitive analyses, successive convex approximation method is used. For demonstration, circumferential tailoring framework is applied to a circular cylinder under bending and an elliptical cylinder under axial compression. The improvements in buckling capacity of variable over constant stiffness designs are shown and verified using nonlinear buckling analysis in the commercial FEM software Abaqus^TM, and the mechanisms of improvements are investigated.     

Damage tolerance of fully orthotropic laminates in compression

The compression after impact (CAI) strength of fully orthotropic composite laminates with up to 21 plies is presented, as analysed by an existing strip model. Candidate layups, which can be symmetric, anti-symmetric or non-symmetric, are preselected to exhibit no elastic coupling response, with manufacturing rules applied. These criteria, along with the use of a simple surrogate sublaminate buckling model, were chosen to allow analysis of all feasible laminates in the design space without excessive computation time. Results indicate that although the inclusion of non-symmetric layups in the design space does not give benefits with respect to maximum achievable damage tolerance, these laminates can exhibit damage tolerance close to that of an anti-symmetric design for some ply counts, and better than symmetric solutions in most cases. It is also noted that in some instances increasing the number of plies in a laminate can actually reduce the highest achievable threshold load for damage tolerance, as a result of the large influence Poisson’s ratio has on sublaminate buckling. Average errors in the surrogate model were low in all cases, with maximum non-conservative errors less than 1%. The surrogate buckling model reduced computational time by over 99% when compared to the fully exhaustive search.     

Biaxial buckling analysis of double-orthotropic microplate-systems including in-plane magnetic field based on strain gradient theory

Background/purposeThis paper deals with analysis of biaxial buckling behavior of double-orthotropic microplate system including in-plane magnetic field, using strain gradient theory.MethodsTwo Kirchhoff microplates are coupled by an internal elastic medium and also are limited to the external Pasternak elastic foundation. Utilizing the principle of total potential energy, the equilibrium equations of motion for three cases (out-of-phase buckling, in-phase buckling and buckling with a plate) are acquired. In this study, we assumed boundary conditions of all the edges are simply supported. In order to get exact solution for buckling load of system, Navier approach which satisfies the simply supported boundary conditions is applied.ResultsVariations of the buckling load of double-microplate system subjected to biaxial compression corresponding to various values of the thickness, length scale parameter, magnetic field, stiffness of internal and external elastic medium, aspect ratio, shear stiffness of the Pasternak foundation and biaxial compression ratio are investigated. Furthermore, influence of higher modes on buckling load is shown. By comparing the numerical results, it is found that dimensionless buckling load ratio for in-phase mode is more than those of out of phase and one microplate fixed. Also it is shown that the value of buckling load ratio reduces, when non-dimensional length scale parameter increases.ConclusionHowever, we found when properties of plate are orthotropic the buckling load ratio is more than isotropic state. Also, by considering the effect of magnetic field, non-dimensional buckling load ratio reduces.     

复合载荷作用变刚度复合材料回转壳屈曲优化

通过曲线纤维轨迹设计,变刚度复合材料回转壳将拥有比常刚度（直线纤维）回转壳更好的抗屈曲稳定性,为此,研究了复合载荷作用下曲线纤维铺层形式和几何参数对变刚度复合材料回转壳屈曲性能的影响规律。首先根据回转壳横截面圆弧变化改进曲线纤维角度线性描述方法,建立了变刚度复合材料回转壳的参数化有限元模型;其次,结合序列二次响应面方法和回转壳屈曲优化模型,搭建了复合材料回转壳曲线纤维轨迹优化的设计流程;最后,以准各向同性铺层复合材料回转壳为比较基准,对弯扭载荷作用变刚度圆柱壳和轴压、弯矩和扭矩分别作用变刚度椭圆柱壳在不同铺层方式、不同几何参数下的屈曲性能进行了优化比较。结果表明:弯扭载荷作用下,变刚度圆柱壳的屈曲性能随弯矩载荷占比增加而提高,且均好于准各向同性圆柱壳,但扭矩载荷占优时,优化常刚度圆柱壳的屈曲性能更具有优势;不同载荷作用下,具有较小截面方向比的变刚度椭圆柱壳屈曲性能要明显好于对应的准各向同性椭圆柱壳,且横截面越接近圆形,曲线纤维对椭圆柱壳屈曲性能的改善越弱。      

Shape and position effects of double holes on lateral buckling of cantilever composite beams

One of the most important mechanical behavior of composite beams subjected to certain external loads and boundary conditions is lateral buckling. The effects of hole dimension, shape and position, and beam thickness on the lateral buckling behavior of woven fabric laminated composite cantilever beams, having two square or two circular holes, were investigated. Firstly, the theoretical, experimental and numerical critical buckling loads of the beams without holes were found and compared with each other. It was shown that there is a good agreement among the theoretical, experimental and numerical results. ANSYS finite element (FEM) program was used for the numerical analyses. Therefore, the numerical analysis of some models with various hole dimensions, shapes (square or circular) and fiber directions were done by changing distance between the holes. It is concluded that the circular holes are advantageous compared to the square ones in terms of lateral buckling behavior.     

Optimum design of stiffened cylindrical panels with constraint on the frequency in the presence of initial stresses

This paper presents the optimum design of stiffened cylindrical panels with weight as the objective function and constraints on the frequencies in the presence of initial stresses, using unconstrained minimization techniques of non-linear mathematical programming problem. The interaction between the buckling constraints and the frequency constraints in the presence of initial stresses are included in the formulation. Loss of load carrying capacity due to imperfection and due to suddenly applied loads are included in the buckling analyses. Results for cylindrical shell are obtained by setting the panel angle to 360 degrees. The relationship between the weight of the cylinder and the panel (a segment of the cylinder) is examined.     

Manufacturing and testing of a CFRC sandwich cylinder with Kagome cores

Filament winding and twice co-curing processes were proposed to make a carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRC) sandwich cylinder with Kagome cores. Axial compression was carried out to reveal the stiffness and load capacity of the fabricated sandwich cylinder. Compared with the stiffened cylinder with similar dimensions and mass, the sandwich cylinder is shown to be stiffer and stronger by several times. Restrained by the double skins, the buckling of lattice ribs is effectively suppressed, leading to the elimination of the dominant failure mode. Skin crippling and strength failure were observed in the testing to be the competing failure mechanisms of the lattice sandwich cylinder. The prediction based on the weakest link of these mechanisms only overestimates the testing load capacity by 30%. The novel sandwich structure shows the promise of lattice composites in upgrading the mechanical properties.     

Numerical modeling of composite laminated cylinders in compression using a novel imperfections modeling method

The present study presents the finite element modeling procedure of two composite laminated cylinders exhibiting initial geometric imperfections. Using as input a set of experimental measurements of the cylinder geometry, the application of the skinning method leads to the analytical representation of the cylinder imperfect internal, external and middle surfaces. A finite element mesh is then easily constructed over these surfaces. The results of the analysis are in very good agreement with the experimental strains and buckling load measurements and are used to estimate the knockdown effect of the imperfections on the cylinder buckling behaviour. They are also compared to results obtained by other simpler finite element models, in an effort to evaluate the accuracy of various modeling simplifications.     

Design of experiments for stacking sequence optimizations with genetic algorithm using response surface approximation

This study describes a new method of experimental design to obtain a response surface of buckling load of laminated composites. Many evaluations for genetic algorithms for stacking sequence optimizations require high computational cost. That evaluation cost can be reduced by an approximation using a response surface. For a response surface for stacking sequence optimizations, lamination parameters are adopted as variables of the approximation function of the entire design space instead of ply angles for each ply. This study presents, proposes and investigates a new method of experimental design in detail. For most analytical tools, stacking sequences is demand as input data and lamination parameters cannot be applied directly to the tools. Therefore, the present study proposes and applies a new D-optimal set of laminates to the stacking sequence optimizations of the problem of maximization of buckling load of a composite cylinder. The new experimental design is a set of stacking sequences selected from candidate stacks using D-optimality. Consequently, the D-optimal set of laminates is shown to be effective for design of experiments of response surfaces for maximization of the buckling load of composite structures.     

Testing and modeling of Nomex™ honeycomb sandwich Panels with bolt insert

Nomex™ honeycomb core sandwich panels with a bolt insert were load tested and modeled. The objective was to predict the honeycomb local buckling load and to identify a Nomex™ honeycomb constituent material model. Sandwich specimens were subjected to bolt pull-out load tests. The same sandwich structure was also tested in flat-wise tension with strain gages installed on the honeycomb walls. Finite element models of the flat-wise tension and bolt pull-out tests were built. The honeycomb geometry and strain gages were modeled with shell elements. An orthotropic honeycomb material model was identified by comparing the two test models to the experimental data. The material parameters identified are in the mid-range of previously published values. The pull-out test model was used to predict honeycomb wall buckling with a nodal rotation vector sum criterion. The buckling loads predictions closely corresponded to the start of the experimental load/displacement slope transition zone.     

An optimization of composite lattice cylinder using the approximate method

Recently, the approximate methods based on continuous models have been developed to perform structural analysis of composite lattice structures due to their relative simplicity and computational efficiency. This paper defines the modified effective stiffness considering the directionally dependent mechanical properties to an intersection of ribs and mode shape function of a composite lattice cylinder. It subsequently presents an approximate method based on the continuous model of conducting a buckling analysis of the composite lattice cylinder with various boundary conditions under uniform compression. This method considers the coupled buckling mode as well as the global and local buckling modes. The validity of the present method is verified by comparing the results of the finite element analysis. In addition, a parametric analysis is performed to investigate the effects of the design parameters on the critical load and buckling mode shape of the composite lattice cylinder based on the present method. Finally, we apply the present method to perform the optimization of a composite lattice cylinder for a high-speed vehicle to minimize the mass. Consequently, it is concluded that the present method is very suitable to optimization of composite lattice cylinders due to their relative simplicity and computational efficiency.     

Optimal design of general stiffened composite circular cylinders for global buckling with strength constraints

A design strategy for optimal design of composite grid-stiffened cylinders subjected to global and local buckling constraints and strength constraints was developed using a discrete optimizer based on a genetic algorithm. An improved smeared stiffener theory was used for the global analysis. Local buckling of skin segments were assessed using a Rayleigh-Ritz method that accounts for material anisotropy. The local buckling of stiffener segments were also assessed. Constraints on the axial membrane strain in the skin and stiffener segments were imposed to include strength criteria in the grid-stiffened cylinder design. Design variables used in this study were the axial and transverse stiffener spacings, stiffener height and thickness, skin laminate stacking sequence and stiffening configuration, where stiffening configuration is a design variable that indicates the combination of axial, transverse and diagonal stiffener in the grid-stiffened cylinder. The design optimization process was adapted to identify the best suited stiffening configurations and stiffener spacings for grid-stiffened composite cylinder with the length and radius of the cylinder, the design in-plane loads and material properties as inputs. The effect of having axial membrane strain constraints in the skin and stiffener segments in the optimization process is also studied for selected stiffening configurations.     

Accurate buckling load calculations of a thick orthotropic sandwich panel

This paper is concerned with the buckling of thick sandwich panels with orthotropic elastic face sheets bonded to a linear elastic orthotropic core. When such panels are analyzed for axial load carrying capacity, it is now commonplace to adopt the finite element method to carry out computations. The accuracy of the numerical results will depend not only on roundoff and algorithmic errors, but additionally on the approximations made in computing the incremental (second order) work associated in computing the change of configuration from the unbuckled to the buckled state. Here we show that, particularly for orthotropic thick sandwich structures, large errors can be incurred in computing buckling loads with available commercial software, unless the proper work conjugate measures of stress and strain with their stress-dependent tangential moduli are used in the buckling formulation.     

Postbuckling response and failure of symmetric laminates under in-plane shear

This paper summarizes a study aimed at understanding the postbuckling behaviour and progressive failure of thin, simply supported symmetric rectangular laminates with various possible in-plane boundary conditions and under the action of in-plane shear loads. First-order shear deformation theory and geometric non-linearity, in the von-Karman sense, is used with a finite-element procedure. The 3D Tsai–Hill criterion is used to predict failure of lamina and the maximum stress criterion is used to predict the onset of delamination at the interface of two adjacent layers. The effect of in-plane boundary conditions, plate lay-ups, plate aspect ratio, fiber orientations and lamina material properties on the load deflection response, buckling load, first-ply failure load, ultimate load and the maximum transverse displacement associated with failure loads is presented.     

Numerical analysis and experimental correlation of composite shell buckling and post-buckling

This paper deals with the buckling and post-buckling behaviour of carbon fibre reinforced plastic cylindrical shells under axial compression. The finite element analysis is used to investigate this problem and three different types of analysis are compared: eigenvalue analysis, non-linear Riks method and dynamic analysis. The effect of geometric imperfection shape and amplitude on critical loads is discussed. A numerical–experimental correlation is performed, using the results of experimental buckling tests. The geometric imperfections measured on the real specimens are accounted for in the finite element model. The results show the reliability of the method to follow the evolution of the cylinder shape from the buckling to the post-buckling field and good accuracy in reproducing the experimental post-buckling behaviour.     

Surrogate-based multi-objective optimization of a composite laminate with curvilinear fibers

A variable stiffness design can increase the structural performance of a composite plate and provides flexibility for trade-offs between structural properties. In this paper, we examine the simultaneous optimization of stiffness and buckling load of a composite laminate plate with curvilinear fiber paths. The problem, which falls in the area of multi-objective optimization, is formulated and solved through a surrogate-based optimization algorithm capable of finding the set of optimum Pareto solutions. We integrate surrogate modeling into an evolutionary algorithm to reduce the high computational cost required to solve the optimization process. The results show that a curvilinear fiber path can increase both buckling load and stiffness simultaneously over the quasi-isotropic laminate. Furthermore, the optimum direction for varying the fiber angle is dependent on the loading direction and boundary conditions. The results for a plate under uniform compression with free transverse edges shows that varying the fiber orientation perpendicular to the loading direction can increase the buckling load by 116% with respect to that of a quasi-isotropic laminate.     

A general strategy for the optimal design of composite laminates by the polar-genetic method

The object of the present work is the development and application of a totally general approach to optimal design of composite laminates where all the required properties for the laminate are explicitly expressed as criteria of the optimisation process. Our formulation is in the form of a highly non-linear and non-convex single- or multi-objective optimisation problem subject to equality and inequality constraints. We show here applications to the design of maximum stiffness, maximum buckling load, maximum eigenfrequencies, maximum strength as well as combinations of the afore mentioned criteria; all types of elastic symmetries can also be taken into account. In order to keep the same greatest generality in solving our optimisation problem, we developed an evolved version of the genetic algorithm BIANCA for the design of composite laminates. We show here a number of numerical solutions found using BIANCA.