The Nonlinear Dynamic Behaviour of Tapered Laminated Plates Subjected to Blast Loading

In this study, the geometrically nonlinear dynamic behaviour of simply supported tapered laminated composite plates subjected to the air blast loading is investigated numerically. In-plane stiffness, inertia and the geometric nonlinearity effects are considered in the formulation of the problem. The equations of motion for the tapered laminated plate are derived by the use of the virtual work principle. Approximate solution functions are assumed for the space domain and substituted into the equations of motion. Then, the Galerkin method is used to obtain the nonlinear algebraic differential equations in the time domain. The resulting equations are solved by using the finite difference approximation over the time. The effects of the taper ratio, the stacking sequence and the fiber orientation angle on the dynamic response are investigated. The displacement-time and strain-time histories are obtained on certain points in the tapered direction. The results obtained by using the present method are compared with the ones obtained by using a commercial finite element software ANSYS. The results are found to be in an agreement. The method presented here is able to determine the nonlinear dynamic response of simply supported tapered laminated plates to the air blast loading accurately

On the mechanical behaviour of AA 7075-T6 during cyclic loading

International audienceThe mechanical behavior of an aluminum alloy during uniaxial cyclic loading is examined using finite element simulations of aggregates with individually resolved crystals. The aggregates consist of face centered cubic (FCC) crystals with initial orientations assigned by sampling the orientation distribution function (ODF) determined from the measured crystallographic texture. The simulations show that the (elastic) lattice strains within the crystals evolve as the number of cycles increases. This evolution is attributed to the interactions between grains driven by the local plasticity. Under constant amplitude strain cycles, the average (macroscopic) stress decays with increasing number of cycles in concert with the evolution of the lattice strains. Further, the average number of active slip systems also decreases with increasing cycles, eventually reaching zero as the material response becomes totally elastic at the grain level. During much of the cyclic history only a single slip system is activated in most grains. The simulation results are compared to experimental data for the macroscopic stress and for lattice strains in the unloaded state after 1, 30 and 1000 cycles

Monitoring Poisson’s Ratio Degradation of FRP Composites under Fatigue Loading Using Biaxially Embedded FBG Sensors

The significance of strain measurement is obvious for the analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites. Conventional strain measurement methods are sufficient for static testing in general. Nevertheless, if the requirements exceed the capabilities of these conventional methods, more sophisticated techniques are necessary to obtain strain data. Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors have many advantages for strain measurement over conventional ones. Thus, the present paper suggests a novel method for biaxial strain measurement using embedded FBG sensors during the fatigue testing of FRP composites. Poisson’s ratio and its reduction were monitored for each cyclic loading by using embedded FBG sensors for a given specimen and correlated with the fatigue stages determined based on the variations of the applied fatigue loading and temperature due to the autogenous heating to predict an oncoming failure of the continuous fiber-reinforced epoxy matrix composite specimens under fatigue loading. The results show that FBG sensor technology has a remarkable potential for monitoring the evolution of Poisson’s ratio on a cycle-by-cycle basis, which can reliably be used towards tracking the fatigue stages of composite for structural health monitoring purposes

An experimental study on the effect of length and orientation of embedded FBG sensors on the signal properties under fatigue loading

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors provide excellent capability for the structural health monitoring (SHM) of load-bearing structures by allowing for local internal strain measurements within structures. However, the integration of these sensors to composite materials is associated with several challenges that have to be addressed to have the correct strain measurement and in turn to perform reliable SHM. One of the most important issues is the presence of uneven strain fields around FBGs, which significantly affect the response of the sensors and hence the reliability of the acquired data. The uniformity of the strain fields around sensors is important for dependable data acquisition; however, to generate such a condition, tow width-to-FBG length relationship, optical fiber configuration with respect to reinforcement fiber orientation, and crack density resulting from fatigue loading are very important factors that have to be considered. In this paper, these issues are addressed by investigating the signal properties of FBG sensors with 1 and 10 mm lengths embedded within the composite specimens during the manufacturing process. After fatigue testing of the specimens, it is shown that 1-mm-long FBGs embedded in-line with adjacent reinforcement fibers with tow widths of ∼2 mm provide much more reliable signals than 10-mm-long FBGs embedded perpendicular to adjacent tows