Postbuckling strengths of composite laminate with various shaped cutouts under in-plane shear

The aim of present investigation is to study the buckling and postbuckling response and strengths under positive and negative in-plane shear loads of simply-supported composite laminate with various shaped cutouts (i.e., circular, square, diamond, elliptical-vertical and elliptical-horizontal) of various sizes using finite-element method. The FEM formulation is based on the first order shear deformation theory which incorporates geometric nonlinearity using von Karman’s assumptions. The 3-D Tsai-Hill criterion is used to predict the failure of a lamina while the onset of delamination is predicted by the interlaminar failure criterion. The effect of cutout shape, size and direction of shear load on buckling and postbuckling responses, failure loads and failure characteristics of quasi-isotropic [i.e., (+45/−45/0/90)_2s] laminate has been discussed. In addition, the effect of composite lay-up [i.e., (+45/−45/0/90)_2s, (45/−45)_4s and (0/90)_4s] has also been reported. It is observed that the cutout shape has considerable effect on the buckling and postbucking behaviour of the quasi-isotropic laminate with large size cutout. It is also observed that the direction of shear load and composite lay-up have substantial influence on strength and failure characteristics of the laminate.     

Stability and failure of composite laminates with various shaped cutouts under combined in-plane loads

The objective of this paper is to study stability and failure of a composite laminate with a centrally placed cutout of various shapes (i.e., circular, square, diamond, elliptical-vertical and elliptical-horizontal) under combined action of uni-axial compression and in-plane shear loads. The FEM formulation based on the first order shear deformation theory and von Karman’s assumptions has been utilized. Newton–Raphson method is used to solve nonlinear algebraic equations. Failure of a lamina is predicted by the 3-D Tsai–Hill criterion whereas the onset of delamination is predicted by the interlaminar failure criterion. The effects of cutout shape, direction of shear load and composite lay-up on buckling and postbuckling responses, failure loads and failure characteristics of the laminate has been discussed. An efficient utilization of material strength is observed in the case of laminate with circular cutout as compared to the laminate with other shaped cutouts. In addition, it is also concluded that although the buckling strength of the (0/90)_4s laminate is lower than that of the (+45/?45/0/90)_2s and (45/?45)_4s laminates, but its strength is increased in the advanced stage of postbuckling deformation.     

Buckling Characteristics of Symmetrically and Antisymmetrically Laminated Composite Plates with Central Cutout

A numerical and experimental study was carried out to determine the effects of anti-symmetric laminate configuration, cutout and length/thickness ratio on the buckling behavior of E/glass-epoxy composite plates. The buckling loads were presented for symmetrically and anti-symmetrically laminated plates subjected to axial compression load. The study included two different laminate configurations ([90/45/−45/0]_as and [90/45/−45/0]_s), two different cutout shapes (circular and semi-circular), two different length/thickness ratios (L/t = 75 and 37.5) and three boundary conditions (clamped–clamped [CC], clamped–pinned [CP] and pinned–pinned [PP]). Firstly, the buckling loads of eight-ply E/glass-epoxy rectangular plates were determined experimentally. Then, the buckling loads of the laminated composites were calculated by ANSYS finite-element computer code. The changing in buckling load of the composites due to the presence of cutout and changing of length/thickness ratio was calculated. Finally, the experimental test results were compared to the buckling loads of plates obtained from the finite element analysis.     

Buckling analysis of rectangular composite plates with rectangular cutout subjected to linearly varying in-plane loading using fem

A numerical study is carried out using finite element method, to examine the effects of square and rectangular cutout on the buckling behavior of a sixteen ply quasi-isotropic graphite/epoxy symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plate [0°/+45°/-45°/90°]_2s, subjected to various linearly varying in-plane compressive loads. Further, this paper addresses the effects of size of square/rectangular cutout, orientation of square/rectangular cutout, plate aspect ratio(a/b), plate length/thickness ratio(a/t), boundary conditions on the buckling bahaviour of symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plates subjected to various linearly varying in-plane compressive loading. It is observed that the various linearly varying in-plane loads and boundary conditions have a substantial influence on buckling strength of rectangular composite plate with square/rectangular cutout.     

Nonlinear stability analysis of a perforated FGM plate under thermal load

The nonlinear thermal stability analysis of a perforated Ni/Al₂O₃ FGM plate with temperature-dependent thermoelastic material properties is carried out through a finite element approach based on the first-order shear deformation theory and the von-Karman's nonlinear kinematics. The thermoelastic material properties of the FGM plate are varied in the thickness direction, and the Mori-Tanaka homogenization scheme is applied to evaluate these properties. After validating the results of the current formulation, parametric studies are conducted to examine the effects of temperature-dependent material properties, material in-homogeneity, cutout shape and size, edge boundary conditions, aspect and slenderness ratios on the thermal buckling and postbuckling response of perforated FGM plate.     

Effective widths of compression-loaded of perforated cross-ply laminated composites

In this study the influence of eccentric circular cutouts on the prebuckling and postbuckling stiffness, and effective widths of compression loaded laminated composite plates are presented. The effective-widths concept is derived based on nonlinear finite element analysis for the plates with and without cutout. Several behavioral trends are described that initially appear to be nonintuitive. The results demonstrate a complex interaction between cutout size and the degree of plate orthotropy that affects the axial stiffness and effective width of plate subjected to compression loads. Also these investigations show that the cutout dimension have a more considerable effect on prebuckling stiffness compare to postbuckling one. It will show that the stiffness ratio of the postbuckling over prebuckling is increased by cutout size. Considering the effective-width ratios concept provide a simple means for incorporating the postbuckling strength and stiffness of plate subcomponents into the design of stiffened structures.     

Cutout reinforcements for shear loaded laminate and sandwich composite panels

This paper presents the numerical and experimental studies of shear loaded laminated and sandwich carbon/epoxy composite panels with cutouts and reinforcements aiming at reducing the cutout stress concentration and increasing the buckling stability of the panels. The effect of different cutout sizes and the design and materials of cutout reinforcements on the stress and buckling behaviour of the panels are evaluated. For the sandwich panels with a range of cutout size and a constant weight, an optimal ratio of the core to the face thickness has been studied for the maximum buckling stability. The finite element method and an analytical method are employed to perform parametric studies. In both constant stress and constant displacement shear loading conditions, the results are in very good agreement with those obtained from experiment for selected cutout reinforcement cases. Conclusions are drawn on the cutout reinforcement design and improvement of stress concentration and buckling behaviour of shear loaded laminated and sandwich composite panels with cutouts.     

剪切载荷下含椭圆形大开口层合板的试验研究

在面内纯剪切载荷作用下, 采用试验与有限元模拟方法研究了结构中心设置椭圆形大开口的正方形复合材料层合板的应力/应变集中现象及屈曲、 后屈曲行为, 通过测试结果对试验件失效模式进行了评估。研究结果表明: 层合板开口附近应力/应变集中程度很高; 大尺寸开口使结构稳定性显著降低, 且开口层合板具有较好的后屈曲承载能力; 由于弯曲产生高水平的层间应力, 导致局部分层损伤并伴有基纤剪切破坏; 随着横向挠度的增加, 各应力集中区域的纤维发生拉伸断裂, 导致整体结构瞬间发生脆性失效。有限元模拟结果与试验结果符合较好。     

Tailoring for strength of composite steered-fibre panels with cutouts

A large number of composite parts include cutouts to accommodate windows, doors, and bolted joints. These regions are hot-spots in terms of design because they concentrate stresses, hence becoming critical in terms of the structural integrity of the part.A traditional approach to the problem of stress concentrations around cutouts is to locally increase the laminate thickness in order to improve the strength margins. Often this practice attracts more loads to the cutout besides increasing part weight. A more effective solution is to tailor the panel in-plane stiffness by means of fibre-steered laminates, and avoid the stress concentrations altogether.The present research demonstrates that it is possible to design and manufacture composite panels whose buckling and first-ply failure responses are insensitive to the existence of a central hole. Moreover, it is shown that the structural performance of these designs more than doubles that of straight-fibre configurations.     

A complex potential-variational formulation for thermo-mechanical buckling analysis of flat laminates with an elliptic cutout

A semi-analytical method is developed for pre-buckling and buckling analyses of thin, symmetrically laminated composite panels with an elliptical cutout at an arbitrary location and orientation under general thermo-mechanical loading conditions. Both the pre-buckling and buckling analyses are based on the principle of stationary potential energy utilizing complex potential functions and complete polynomials. The complex potential functions capture the steep stress gradients and local deformations around the cutout, and the “complete” polynomials improve the global buckling response of the laminate. The complex potential functions in the pre-buckling state automatically satisfy the in-plane equilibrium equations, thus reducing the first variation of the total potential energy in terms of line integrals only. Because the complex potential functions for out-of-plane displacements are augmented by the “complete” polynomials, the area integral terms in the second variation of the total potential energy, referred to as the Treftz criterion, are retained in the buckling analysis. The kinematic boundary conditions are idealized by employing extensional and rotational springs (elastic restraints) with appropriate stiffness values. Based on the numerous validation problems, this analysis is proven credible for predicting the buckling load of rectangular and non-rectangular panels with a cutout.     

Failure Behavior and Strength of Composite I-Section Beam with Double Cutouts and Stiffener Reinforcement

This work is carried out to study the influence of double cutouts and stiffener reinforcements on the performance of I-section Carbon Fibre/Epoxy composites beam, including buckling, post-buckling behavior and the ultimate failure. The cantilever I-section beam with two diamond-shaped cutouts in the web and three longitudinal L-shaped stiffeners bonded to one side is subjected to a shear load at free end. Both numerical modelling and Experiment of I-section CFRP beam are performed. In numerical analysis, Tsai-Wu failure criterion is utilized to detect the first-ply-failure load in nonlinear analysis by predicting the load-deflection response. Good agreements are obtained from comparison between the numerical simulations and test results. For the double-hole beam web, the two cutouts show close surface deformation amplitude, which indicates that the stiffeners make the force transformation more effective. Comparing to the numerical result of corresponding beam with single cutout and stiffener reinforcement, the longitudinal stiffeners can not only play a significant role in improving the structural stability (increase about 30%), but also take effects to improve the deformation compatibility of structure. Local buckling happened within the sub-webs partioned by the stiffener and the buckling load is different but close. With post-buckling regime, the two areas show similar deformation characteristic, while the sub-web close to fixed end bears more shear load than the sub-web close to loading end with the increase of normal deformation of structure. The catastrophic failure load is approximate 75.6% higher comparing to buckling load. Results illustrate that the tensile fracture of the fiber is the immediate cause of the ultimate failure of the structure.     

加筋复合材料圆柱壳的屈曲和初始后屈曲的研究

本文分析了筋和壳的儿何参数及壳的铺层对纵向或环向密加筋的复合材料层合圆柱壳在轴压和侧压下的稳定性和初始后屈曲性能的影响。初始后屈曲分析基于Koiter理论。对几种不同几何参数、壳体铺层和载荷情况的加筋壳的计算表明:在所有情况下,外加筋比内加筋更有效地提高了屈曲载荷;复合材料壳的加筋效率一般都高于各向同性材料加筋壳;壳体的铺层对屈曲和初始后屈曲性能有很大影响。     

Collapse analysis of composite cylindrical panels with small cutouts

A finite element study was conducted to determine the effects of notches on the load bearing capability and radial displacements of axially loaded composite cylindrical panels. The panel considered assumed that eight symmetrically placed graphite/epoxy plies were used. A mesh refinement in the vicinity of the cutout was conducted in order to study the non-linear collapse analysis. In addition, the effect of different size cutouts with aspect ratios (axial dimension of cutout divided by circumferential dimension) of 2·0 and 0·5 was studied. The findings indicated that as the surface area of the cutout increased, the buckling load decreased. Cutouts with aspect ratios of 2·0 appeared to be capable of carrying higher loads than notches with an aspect ratio of 0·5.     

On the Through-the-Width Multiple Delamination, and Buckling and Postbuckling Behaviors of Symmetric and Unsymmetric Composite Laminates

Multiple delamination causes severe degradation of the stiffness and strength of composites. Interactions between multiple delamination, and buckling and postbuckling under compressive loads add the complexity of mechanical properties of composites. In this paper, the buckling, postbuckling and through-the-width multiple delamination of symmetric and unsymmetric composite laminates are studied using 3D FEA, and the virtual crack closure technique with two delamination failure criteria: B-K law and power law is used to predict the delamination growth and to calculate the mixed-mode energy release rate. The compressive load-strain curves, load-central deflection curves and multiple delamination process for eight composite specimens with different initial delamination sizes and their distributions as well as two angle-ply configurations 0₄//(±θ)₆//0₄ (θ?=?0° and 45°, and “//” denotes the delaminated interface) are comparatively studied. From numerical results, the unsymmetry decreases the local buckling load and initial delamination load, but does not affect the global buckling load compared with the symmetric laminates. Besides, the unsymmetry affects the unstable delamination and buckling behaviors of composite laminates largely when the initial multiple delamination sizes are relatively small.     

Mechanical Buckling Analysis of Composite Panels with/without Cutouts

A simplified analytical solution suitable for simple stacking sequences was developed using the Euler buckling theory,the structure’ s equations of equilibrium and laminate panel mathematical formulation.Comparing these results with numerical results reveals the accuracy of the method and even more,allows us to validate the numerical analysis.Therefore,two important results are obtained:a simplified analytical solution for the buckling problem and validation of the numerical results.Another important and novel finding is related to the influence of the angle ply orientation and of the cutouts,on the buckling load.Under symmetrical boundary conditions and loading case,rectangular panels with elliptical cutouts,give better results for 90° oriented plies than for 0 oriented ones.With a compression load applied in the X direction,and with material properties 10 times better in X direction than in Y direction,the best results are obtained when the load is aligned with the Y direction associated to the material reference frame.Moreover,panels with cutouts seem to behave better than panels without cutouts under certainply orientation angles.     

复合材料双曲率壳屈曲和后屈曲的非线性有限元研究

基于 ABAQUS软件分析平台 , 采用非线性有限元法研究了横向载荷作用下复合材料双曲率壳的屈曲和后屈曲行为。通过在有限元模型中引入 Tsai2Wu失效准则 , 预测了复合材料双曲率壳的初始失效及渐进破坏过程 , 数值结果和试验数据吻合较好 , 表明了该模型的合理有效性 , 并详细讨论了各种参数对屈曲和后屈曲行为的影响。经分析复合材料双曲率加筋壳在均布压载和剪力联合作用下的屈曲和后屈曲行为 , 得到了屈曲载荷的拟合曲线 , 研究表明顺剪力的存在有利于提高屈曲载荷。     

Analytical solutions of thermal buckling and postbuckling of symmetric laminated composite beams with various boundary conditions

Based on the first-order shear deformation beam theory, considering geometric nonlinearity, the governing equations for symmetric laminated composite beams subjected to uniform temperature rise are derived by using Hamilton’s principle, and then three solving methods are presented to deal with it. By introducing an auxiliary function, which is shown in method one, the governing equations are reduced to be a single fourth-order integral-differential equation, and the exact solutions for the thermal buckling and postbuckling of symmetric laminated composite beams with combination of in-plane immovable simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are presented for the first time. On the basis of the results given in the method one, the explicit solutions for the thermal buckling and postbuckling of the beams are presented by giving accurate displacement functions (method two) and Ritz method (method three), respectively. Then, the effects of the transverse shear effects and boundary conditions on the thermal buckling and postbuckling of the beams are qualitatively discussed. What is more, a preliminary discussion on the probability and difference of extending the giving methods to the higher-order shear deformation beam theory with various boundary conditions is conducted. In the numerical examples, the good agreements between the present results and existing solutions verify the validity and efficiency of the present analysis and numerical results. And then the symmetric cross-ply laminated composite beam (0/90/0) is taken as an example to numerically evaluate the effects of the length-to-thickness ratio, beam theories, and boundary conditions on the thermal buckling and postbuckling of symmetric laminated composite beams. Some meaningful conclusions have been drawn.     

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.     

Buckling of filament-wound composite cylinders subjected to hydrostatic pressure for underwater vehicle applications

The buckling and failure characteristics of moderately thick-walled filament-wound carbon–epoxy composite cylinders under external hydrostatic pressure were investigated through finite element analysis and testing for underwater vehicle applications. The winding angles were [±30/90]_FW, [±45/90]_FW and [±60/90]_FW. ACOS, an in-house finite element program, successfully predicted the buckling pressure of filament-wound composite cylinders with 2 ∼ 23% deviation from the test results. The analysis and test results showed that the cylinders do not recover the initial buckling pressure after buckling and that this leads directly to the collapse. Major failure modes in the test were dominated by the helical winding angles.     

Simultaneous buckling design of stiffened shells with multiple cutouts

Buckling is usually initiated from a local region near the cutout for cylindrical stiffened shells under axial compression, and then the evolution of buckling waves is governed by the combined effects of local and global stiffness, which limit the load-carrying capacity. Therefore, a simultaneous buckling pattern is crucial for improving the structural efficiency. In this study, a multi-step optimization strategy for the integrated design of near and far fields away from cutouts is proposed, and the convergence criterion of buckling optimization is improved as a deformation-based index. The numerical implementation of the asymptotic homogenization method is utilized to construct an efficient finite element model for post-buckling analysis. A 5?m diameter stiffened shell in a launch vehicle demonstrates that the proposed framework can provide a simultaneous buckling design with high structural efficiency in an efficient manner. Both the buckling deformations and stress of the optimum design are more uniform compared to other optimum designs.