The effect of rotatory inertia on the dynamic response of laminated composite plate

The strip element method (SEM) is extended to include rotatory inertia for analysing the dynamic response of laminated composite plates. The transient responses of rectangular symmetric laminated plates are computed for various loading using the newly developed SEM program. The effect of the rotatory inertia is investigated for plates of different thickness. It is found that the rotatory inertia has less effect on thin plates whose thickness–length ratio is less than 1/20, but significant effect on thicker plates. The effects of other parameters such as elastic constants, material density and fiber orientation on the responses of plate are also studied and discussed in detail.     

Transient waves in composite‐laminated plates with uncertain load and material property

A method is suggested to deal with the wave propagation problems in composite‐laminated plates subjected to uncertainty in load and material property based on the interval analysis method and the hybrid numerical method (HNM). The uncertain parameters are treated as intervals, in which only their bounds of the uncertainty are needed. Using the first‐order Taylor expansion, the transient responses can be approximated as a linear function of the uncertain parameters. In this function, the transient responses at the midpoints of the uncertain parameters can be obtained directly through the HNM. A sensitivity analysis technique is suggested to calculate the first derivative of the transient responses with respect to each uncertain parameter based on two cases that the parameter exists in load or material property. Applying the interval extension in interval mathematics, the lower and upper bounds of the transient responses caused by the uncertainty can be finally obtained. The present method is applied to a numerical example, in which the uncertainty of the load, elastic constants of the layer material and ply orientations are all investigated, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the present method. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of Elastic Properties of Composite Laminates

This article is focused on application of the response surface method (RSM) for solution of structural identification problems. The approximating functions are obtained from the data of deterministic numerical experiment. The numerical experiment is performed in the sample points of experiment design. A minimal mean squared distance Latin hypercube (MMSDLH) design is used in the present paper. For building the response surfaces, a local approximation method is employed. An example of application of the response surface method and experiment design for identification of elastic properties of laminated composite material is discussed. Elastic properties of carbon/epoxy laminate are determined employing the experimentally measured eigenfrequencies of composite plates. The identification functional represents differences between experimentally measured and numerically calculated frequencies, which are dependent on variables to be identified. The identification parameters are five elastic constants of material. The elastic constants identified from vibration test have been compared with the values obtained from independent static test. Good agreement of the results is observed.     

Elastic constants identification of symmetric angle-ply laminates via a two-level optimization approach

A two-level optimization method for elastic constants identification of symmetric angle-ply laminates is presented. Measured axial and lateral strains of two symmetric angle-ply laminates with different fiber angles are used in the proposed method to identify four elastic constants of the composite laminates. In the first-level optimization process, the theoretically and experimentally predicted axial and lateral strains of a [(45°/−45°)₂]_s laminate are used to construct the error function which is a measure of the differences between the experimental and theoretical predictions of the axial and lateral strains. The identification of the material constants is then formulated as a constrained minimization problem in which the best estimates of the shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the laminate are determined by making the error function a global minimum. The problem of this level of optimization is then solved using a multi-start global minimization algorithm. In the second-level optimization process, the shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio determined in the previous level of optimization are kept constant while the Young’s moduli of the second angle-ply laminate with fiber angles other than 45° are identified using the same minimization technique that has been used in the previous level. The accuracy of the proposed method are studied by means of a number of numerical examples on the material constants identification of symmetric angle-ply laminates made of different composite materials. Finally, static tensile tests of [(45°/−45°)₂]_s and [(30°/−30°)₂]_s laminates made of Gr/ep composite material are performed to measure the strains of the laminates. The experimental data are then used to identify the elastic constants of the laminates. The excellent results obtained in the experimental investigation have demonstrated the feasibility and applications of the proposed method.     

Non-homogeneous response of cross-ply laminated elastic plates using a higher-order theory

A consistent formulation for the bending of cross-ply laminated composite plates that possess non-homogeneous elastic properties is presented. Based on a third-order shear deformation plate theory, the governing equations are obtained using the principle of virtual work. With the help of the small parameter method, a wide variety of results are presented for the symmetric and antisymmetric analysis of non-homogeneous rectangular laminated plates. The influence of non-homogeneity, lamination schemes, aspect ratio and material anisotropy on the deflections and stresses is investigated. The new results for non-homogeneous response of composite plates should serve as bench marks for future comparisons.     

Hamilton体系下含弱粘接复合材料层合板的无网格求解方法

该文结合径向基点插值函数、弹簧层模型和弹性材料修正后的H-R（Hellinger-Reissner）变分原理,推导了含弱粘接复合材料层合板控制方程的无网格列式。利用典型径向基函数Multiquadric（MQ）,计算了含弱粘接复合材料层合板的应力与位移。通过与精确法的对比,证明了控制方程无网格列式的正确性,并研究了弱粘...     

压电材料修正后的H-R混合变分原理及其层合板的精确法

将三维弹性体的Hellinger-Reissner(H-R)混合变分原理引入到具有机-电耦合效应的压电材料静力学问题中,建立了压电材料修正后的H-R混合变分原理,通过变分运算和分部积分得到了压电材料的状态向量方程.给出了四边简支的压电材料层合板静力学状态向量方程的精确求解方法,数值实例的结果证明了方法是正确性的.这里的理论和求解方法同样适应于纯弹性材料板和压电材料板混合的层合板静力学问题的分析.变分原理将有利于压电材料问题相应的半解析法或有限元法的推导.     

Reliability predictions of laminated composite plates with random system parameters

Reliability predictions of laminated composite plates with random system parameters subjected to transverse loads are performed using different methods. System parameters such as material properties, layer thicknesses, and lamina strengths of a laminated composite plate are treated as base-line random variables and an appropriate failure criterion is used to construct the limit state equation of the plate in the reliability analysis. Based on the statistics of the base-line random variables obtained from experiments, different methods, namely, Monte Carlo method, β method, and first-order second moment method, are used to calculate the reliability of the laminated composite plates. In the first-order second moment method, the stochastic finite element method is used to derive for the statistics of the first-ply failure load of the laminated composite plates from those of the base-line random variables. The reliability of the laminated plate is then computed using the theoretically determined statistics together with an assumed probability distribution function of the first-ply failure load. The feasibility and accuracy of the different methods are studied by means of the experimental data of centrally loaded laminated composite plates with different lay-ups. The suitability of several commonly used failure criteria for reliability analysis of laminated composite plates is also investigated by means of several examples.     

Buckling of symmetrically laminated rectangular plates with general boundary conditions – A semi analytical approach

A semi-analytical extended Kantorovich approach for the buckling analysis of symmetrically laminated rectangular plates with general boundary conditions is presented. The solution is derived as a multi-function expansion that allows the analysis of laminated plates characterized by a non-separable solution. Among these, the cases of buckling of angle-ply laminates under inplane compression and shear buckling of any type of plate are the most common ones. The formulation is based on the variational principal of total energy minimization and the iterative extended Kantorovich method. The exact element method is adopted for the solution of the resulting differential eigenvalue problem. The capabilities of the proposed approach and its applicability to buckling analysis of composite laminated plates that cannot be analyzed using the classical single-term extended Kantorovich method are demonstrated numerically. The results are compared with exact solutions (where available), and with approximate results from other numerical methods. The accuracy and convergence of the proposed approach are also discussed.     

Material characterization of laminated composite materials using a three-point-bending technique

A three-point-bending technique is presented for identifying the elastic constants of laminated composite materials. In the proposed technique, three strains in the axial, lateral, and 45° directions on the bottom surface at the mid-span of a symmetric angle-ply beam subjected to three-point-bending testing are measured for elastic constants identification. The narrow beam theory together with the trial elastic constants is used to predict the theoretical strains of the beam. The theoretical and experimental strains of the beams are then used in a stochastic optimization method to identify the elastic constants of the beam. The accuracy and applications of the proposed technique are demonstrated by means of a number of examples on the elastic constants identification of graphite/epoxy (Gr/ep) or glass/epoxy (Gl/ep) laminated composite materials. The effects of specimen aspect ratio and thickness on the accuracy of the proposed method are investigated.     

Nonlinear static/dynamic analysis for elasto-plastic laminated plates with interfacial damage evolution

A new analysis model, which includes the effects of interfacial damage, geometrical nonlinearity and material nonlinearity, is presented for elasto-plastic laminated plates. Based on the model, the nonlinear equilibrium differential equations for elasto-plastic laminated plates with interfacial damage are established. The finite difference method and iteration method are adopted to solve these equations. The nonlinear static and dynamic behaviors for the elasto-plastic laminated plates under the action of transverse loads are analyzed. Effects of interfacial damage on the stress and displacement distribution and nonlinear dynamic response are discussed in the numerical examples together with the comparison of nonlinear mechanical behaviors between the elastic and elasto-plastic laminated plates. Numerical results show that both the interfacial damage and plastic deformation put obvious influence on the mechanical properties of structures.     

Static deformations and vibration analysis of composite and sandwich plates using a layerwise theory and RBF-PS discretizations with optimal shape parameter

A study of static deformations and free vibration of shear flexible isotropic and laminated composite plates is presented. A layerwise theory for laminated or sandwich plates is used. The analysis is based on a new numerical scheme, where collocation by radial basis functions is viewed as a pseudospectral method to produce highly accurate results. A cross-validation technique is used to optimize the shape parameter for the basis functions. Numerical results for symmetric laminated composite and sandwich plates are presented and discussed.     

On the identification of microstretch elastic moduli of materials by using vibration data of plates

In the present work, the vibration problems of rectangular plates modeled by Eringen’s microstretch theory are investigated for the identification of the upper bounds of the microstretch moduli of the plate material. The calculated frequencies of the plates are obtained by extending the Ritz method to the microstretch plates. The three dimensional (3D) vibration analysis of the plates shows that some additional frequencies occur among the classical frequencies as characterizing the microstretch effects. Then it is also observed that these additional frequencies disappear and only the classical frequencies remain with the increasing values of microstretch constants. The inverse problem is established for the identification of the upper bounds of the microstretch elastic constants as an optimization problem where an error function is minimized.     

A novel algorithm for shape parameter selection in radial basis functions collocation method

Many Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) contain a free shape parameter that plays an important role for the application of Meshless method to the analysis of multilayered composite and sandwich plates. In most papers the authors end up choosing this shape parameter by trial and error or some other ad hoc means. In this paper a novel algorithm for shape parameter selection, based on a convergence analysis, is presented. The effectiveness of this algorithm is assessed by static analyses of laminated composite and sandwich plates.     

A design of laminated composite plates using graded orthotropic fiber-reinforced composite plies

A new lamination scheme is proposed through the design of a graded orthotropic fiber-reinforced composite ply for achieving continuous variations of material properties along the thickness direction of laminated composite plates. First, a micro-structure of graded unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite ply is designed and its effective graded elastic properties are estimated using finite element procedure. Next, the new lamination scheme is demonstrated through the conversion of a conventional laminated composite plate (CLCP) into a conventional-graded laminated composite plate (CGLCP) utilizing presently designed graded orthotropic composite ply. The suitability of this conversion/proposed lamination scheme is substantiated through the bending analysis of both the plates (CLCP and CGLCP).     

Estimation of piezoelastic and viscoelastic properties in laminated structures

An inverse method for material parameter estimation of elastic, piezoelectric and viscoelastic laminated plate structures is presented. The method uses a gradient based optimization technique in order to solve the inverse problem, through minimization of an error functional which expresses the difference between experimental free vibration data and corresponding numerical data produced by a finite element model. The complex modulus approach is used to model the viscoelastic material behavior, assuming hysteretic type damping. Applications that illustrate the influence of adhesive material interfaces and viscoelastic parameter identification are presented and a few simulated test cases aid the interpretation of results.     

Maximum stiffness design of laminated composite plates via a constrained global optimization approach

The optimal lamination arrangements of laminated composite plates with maximum stiffness subject to side constraints are investigated via a constrained multi-start global optimization approach. In the optimal design process, the deformation analysis of laminated composite plates is accomplished by utilizing a shear deformable laminated composite finite element and the optimal design problem, which has been converted into an unconstrained minimization problem via the general augmented Lagrangian method, is solved by utilizing the proposed unconstrained multi-start global optimization technique to determine the optimal fiber angles and layer group thicknesses of the laminated composite plates for attaining maximum stiffness and simultaneously satisfying the imposed side constraints. The feasibility of the proposed constrained multi-start global optimization algorithm is validated by means of a simple but representative example and its applications are demonstrated by means of a number of examples on the maximum stiffness design of symmetrically laminated composite plates. The effects of length-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, and number of layer groups upon the optimum fiber angles and layer group thicknesses of the plates are investigated.     

The vibration damping of laminated plates

A method previously developed for determination of elastic and damping parameters of orthotropic plates (McIntyre, M. E. and Woodhouse, J., Acta Metall., 1988, 36, 1397–1416) was applied to laminated composite plates. The necessary theory is summarised, and the predictions of laminate theory compared with experimental results for three CFRP laminated plates with different constructions. It is also shown that laminate theory can be inverted, to obtain the ply properties from measurements on the laminated plate. This can sometimes afford a good way to obtain the necessary calibration data on the material properties of the plies.     

An approach for the reliability based design optimization of laminated composites

This article aims at optimizing laminated composite plates taking into account uncertainties in the structural dimensions. As laminated composites require a global optimization tool, the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method is employed. A new Reliability Based Design Optimization (RBDO) methodology based on safety factors is presented and coupled with PSO. Such safety factors are derived from the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker optimality conditions of the reliability index approach and eliminate the need for reliability analysis in RBDO. The plate weight minimization is the objective function of the optimization process. The results show that the coupling of the evolutionary algorithm with the safety-factor method proposed in this article successfully performs the RBDO of laminated composite structures.     

基于直接搜索方法的层合板多目标优化设计

直接多目标搜索方法(DMS)是一种不需要计算梯度信息并且能实现全局收敛的多目标优化方法。基于直接多目标搜索方法,以简支层合板铺设角度为设计变量,基频和声功率为目标函数进行层合板结构振动与声多目标优化。分别以4层、8层复合材料层合板为例,用DMS方法对其优化设计,并与传统的遗传算法(GA)对比。结果表明,对于4层复合材料层合板,DMS方法比GA方法优化速度快,且能得到全局最优解;对于8层复合材料层合板,用DMS方法比4层板优化所需时间多,但相比GA方法,DMS方法优化更快。