Calculation of Thermal Strains and Stresses in Composite Conical Fairing

Fairings in the form of thin-walled circular conical shells made from composite materials are a commonly used structural element of the cutting-edge rocketry. In the course of operation they are subjected to intense thermal and force loading. To calculate them the unnecessarily time consuming (laborious) methods using complicated finite element software systems are often applied. The article proposes an analytical method to calculate thermal strains and stresses in composite conically shaped fairing under uneven heating. The proposed method of calculation can be useful at the preliminary stage of design process. The article describes a design model. For its construction the theory of thin orthotropic conical shells under axisymmetric loading, based on the Kirchhoff-Love hypotheses, is used. The article considers uneven heating of the fairing, when the temperature varies nonlinearly along the slant height and across the thickness. The fairing is made from composite material with woven filler. Duhamel-Neumann relations describe thermo-elastic properties of the material. Boundary conditions are formulated. The system of resolving ordinary nonhomogeneous differential equations of the second order with respect to the rotation angle of the normal in the meridian direction and shearing forces is obtained. The system of equations is transformed to the Bessel equation via auxiliary complex function. Its order is determined by the ratio of the elasticity modulus along the weft to the modulus of elasticity along the warp. For the practically important case when this ratio is equal approximately to 0.5, the analytical solution of the homogeneous system of equations is obtained. This solution is expressed by elementary functions. The variant of a particular solution for the nonhomogeneous system of differential equations is proposed. For the "long" conical shell a simplified solution is given. Using the obtained relations for the displacements and internal forces, stress-strain state of composite fairing under uneven heating can be analyzed. It is noted that the numerical solution obtained by S.G. Godunov’s method of orthogonalization coincides with the analytical solution. The article considers an example of calculating displacement and stress in the composite fairing. It shows that for a given temperature field, compressive stresses on the outer surface of the composite fairing are of essential value. For the fairing made from composite material with woven filler they can cause failure. Axial and radial displacements are small as compared to the wall thickness of the fairing

Analytical model and experimental validation of friction laws for composites under low loads

In order to account for interfacial friction of composite materials, an analytical model based on contact geometry and local friction is proposed. A contact area includes several types of microcontacts depending on reinforcement materials and their shape. A proportion between these areas is defined by in-plane contact geometry. The model applied to a fibre-reinforced composite results in the dependence of friction on surface fibre fraction and local friction coefficients. To validate this analytical model, an experimental study on carbon fibrereinforced epoxy composites under low normal pressure was performed. The effects of fibre volume fraction and fibre orientation were studied, discussed and compared with analytical model results. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Dissection of descending aorta treated by stent-graft implantation in a patient with Marfan syndrome

This report describes a 32 years old patient with Marfan syndrome and hypertension. David`s procedure was performed to the patient three months before due to dissection of the ascending thoracic aorta. Computer tomography scan showed DeBakey type III dissection of aorta beginning from left subclavian artery with transition to the ostium of the celiac trunk and proximal part of the left common iliac artery. Stent-grafts in the descending thoracic aorta with overlapping of left subclavian artery were implanted to the patient with Marfan syndrome. Patient was discharged and no complications recorded at 6th month follow-up