Free vibration analysis and design optimization of SMA/Graphite/Epoxy composite shells in thermal environments

Composite shells, which are being widely used in engineering applications, are often under thermal loads. Thermal loads usually bring thermal stresses in the structure which can significantly affect its static and dynamic behaviors. One of the possible solutions for this matter is embedding Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires into the structure. In the present study, thermal buckling and free vibration of laminated composite cylindrical shells reinforced by SMA wires are analyzed. Brinson model is implemented to predict the thermo-mechanical behavior of SMA wires. The natural frequencies and buckling temperatures of the structure are obtained by employing Generalized Differential Quadrature (GDQ) method. GDQ is a powerful numerical approach which can solve partial differential equations. A comparative study is carried out to show the accuracy and efficiency of the applied numerical method for both free vibration and buckling analysis of composite shells in thermal environment. A parametric study is also provided to indicate the effects of like SMA volume fraction, dependency of material properties on temperature, lay-up orientation, and pre-strain of SMA wires on the natural frequency and buckling of Shape Memory Alloy Hybrid Composite (SMAHC) cylindrical shells. Results represent the fact that SMAs can play a significant role in thermal vibration of composite shells. The second goal of present work is optimization of SMAHC cylindrical shells in order to maximize the fundamental frequency parameter at a certain temperature. To this end, an eight-layer composite shell with four SMA-reinforced layers is considered for optimization. The primary optimization variables are the values of SMA angles in the four layers. Since the optimization process is complicated and time consuming, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is performed to obtain the orientations of SMA layers to maximize the first natural frequency of structure. The optimization results show that using an optimum stacking sequence for SMAHC shells can increase the fundamental frequency of the structure by a considerable amount

A high-order theory for the analysis of circular cylindrical composite sandwich shells with transversely compliant core subjected to external loads

A new model based on the high order sandwich panel theory is proposed to study the effect of external loads on the free vibration of circular cylindrical composite sandwich shells with transversely compliant core, including also the calculation of the buckling loads. In the present model, in contrast to most of the available sandwich plate and shell theories, no prior assumptions are made with respect to the displacement field in the core. Herein the displacement and the stress fields of the core material are determined through a 3D elasticity solution. The performance of the present theory is compared with that of other sandwich theories by the presentation of comparative results obtained for several examples encompassing different material properties and geometric parameters. It is shown that the present model produce results of very high accuracy, and it is suggested that the present model, which is based on a 3D elasticity solution for the core material, can be used as a benchmark in future studies of the free vibration and buckling of circular cylindrical composite sandwich shells with a transversely compliant core

EFFECT OF JOINT GEOMETRY ON THE BEHAVIOR AND FAILURE MODES OF SANDWICH T-JOINTS UNDER TRANSVERSE STATIC LOADS

Due to wide spread applications of adhesive T-joints in various industries, it necessitates a review of properties and strength of their fracture modes under static and dynamic loadings. By defining the ability of failure in the joint material and fracture of adhesive in the numerical model, fracture modes of sandwich T-joints have been investigated. This paper presents numerical results on the performance of sandwich T-joints subjected to static tensile and static transverse loading. The results of available experiments in the literature have been used to validate the detailed numerical models capable of simulating the damage processes observed. In general, the failure load predicted by the finite element (FE) analysis is within 5% of the experimental results