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At least 73 records · Page 4

High-Fidelity Buckling Analysis of Composite Cylinders Using the STAGS Finite Element Code

Results from previous shell buckling studies are presented that illustrate some of the unique and powerful capabilities in the STAGS finite element analysis code that have made it an indispensable tool in structures research at NASA over the past few decades. In particular, prototypical results from the development and validation of high-fidelity buckling simulations are presented for several unstiffened thin-walled compression-loaded graphite-epoxy cylindrical shells along with a discussion on the specific methods and user-defined subroutines in STAGS that are used to carry out the high-fidelity simulations. These simulations accurately account for the effects of geometric shell-wall imperfections, shell-wall thickness variations, local shell-wall ply-gaps associated with the fabrication process, shell-end geometric imperfections, nonuniform applied end loads, and elastic boundary conditions. The analysis procedure uses a combination of nonlinear quasi-static and transient dynamic solution algorithms to predict the prebuckling and unstable collapse response characteristics of the cylinders. Finally, the use of high-fidelity models in the development of analysis-based shell-buckling knockdown (design) factors is demonstrated.

Hilburger, Mark W.↗

Optimal Design of General Stiffened Composite Circular Cylinders for Global Buckling with Strength Constraints

A design strategy for optimal design of composite grid-stiffened cylinders subjected to global and local buckling constraints and, strength constraints is developed using a discrete optimizer based on a genetic algorithm. An improved smeared stiffener theory is used for the global analysis. Local buckling of skin segments are assessed using a Rayleigh-Ritz method that accounts for material anisotropy. The local buckling of stiffener segments are also assessed. Constraints on the axial membrane strain in the skin and stiffener segments are imposed to include strength criteria in the grid-stiffened cylinder design. Design variables used in this study are the axial and transverse stiffener spacings, stiffener height and thickness, skin laminate stacking sequence, and stiffening configuration, where herein stiffening configuration is a design variable that indicates the combination of axial, transverse, and diagonal stiffener in the grid-stiffened cylinder. The design optimization process is adapted to identify the best suited stiffening configurations and stiffener spacings for grid-stiffened composite cylinder with the length and radius of the cylinder, the design in-plane loads, and material properties as inputs. The effect of having axial membrane strain constraints in the skin and stiffener segments in the optimization process is also studied for selected stiffening configuration.

Jaunky, Navin↗

Optimal Design of General Stiffened Composite Circular Cylinders for Global Buckling with Strength Constraints

A design strategy for optimal design of composite grid-stiffened cylinders subjected to global and local buckling constraints and strength constraints was developed using a discrete optimizer based on a genetic algorithm. An improved smeared stiffener theory was used for the global analysis. Local buckling of skin segments were assessed using a Rayleigh-Ritz method that accounts for material anisotropy. The local buckling of stiffener segments were also assessed. Constraints on the axial membrane strain in the skin and stiffener segments were imposed to include strength criteria in the grid-stiffened cylinder design. Design variables used in this study were the axial and transverse stiffener spacings, stiffener height and thickness, skin laminate stacking sequence and stiffening configuration, where stiffening configuration is a design variable that indicates the combination of axial, transverse and diagonal stiffener in the grid-stiffened cylinder. The design optimization process was adapted to identify the best suited stiffening configurations and stiffener spacings for grid-stiffened composite cylinder with the length and radius of the cylinder, the design in-plane loads and material properties as inputs. The effect of having axial membrane strain constraints in the skin and stiffener segments in the optimization process is also studied for selected stiffening configurations.

Jaunky, N.↗

The crack problem in a reinforced cylindrical shell

In this paper a partially reinforced cylinder containing an axial through crack is considered. The reinforcement is assumed to be fully bonded to the main cylinder. The composite cylinder is thus modelled by a nonhomogeneous shell having a step change in the elastic properties at the z=0 plane, z being the axial coordinate. Using a Reissner type transverse shear theory the problem is reduced to a pair of singular integral equations. In the special case of a crack tip touching the bimaterial interface it is shown that the dominant parts of the kernels of the integral equations associated with both membrane loading and bending of the shell reduce to the generalized Cauchy kernel obtained for the corresponding plane stress case. The integral equations are solved and the stress intensity factors are given for various crack and shell dimensions. A bonded fiberglass reinforcement which may serve as a crack arrestor is used as an example.

Yahsi, O. S.↗

The crack problem in a reinforced cylindrical shell

A partially reinforced cylinder containing an axial through crack is considered. The reinforcement is assumed to be fully bonded to the main cylinder. The composite cylinder is thus modelled by a nonhomogeneous shell having a step change in the elastic properties at the z = 0 plane, z being the axial coordinate. Using a Reissner type transverse shear theory the problem is reduced to a pair of singular integral equations. In the special case of a crack tip touching the bimaterial interface it is shown that the dominant parts of the kernels of the integral equations associated with both membrane loading and bending of the shell reduce to the generalized Cauchy kernel obtained for the corresponding plane stress case. The integral equations are solved and the stress intensity factors are given for various crack and shell dimensions. A bonded fiberglass reinforcement which may serve as a crack arrestor is used as an example.

Yahsi, O. S.↗

Development of a Numerical Modeling Approach for Buckling Analysis of Sandwich Composite Cylindrical Shells with Selected Results

The buckling response of geometrically perfect and imperfect cylindrical sandwich shells can be investigated using nonlinear finite element analyses with two-dimensional general-purpose shell elements. Such analyses are used in the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project, which has the goal of developing new analysis-based buckling design recommendations for select classes of sandwich composite cylindrical structures under uniaxial compressive load. As such, finite element models of sandwich composite cylinders were developed and analyses were performed to predict the buckling responses of geometrically perfect and imperfect sandwich composite cylinders. The development of the selected finite-element modeling approach for a sandwich composite cylinder is discussed. Buckling-response sensitivity of geometrically imperfect sandwich cylinders for various shell element types were investigated as part of this study. Preliminary results of geometric imperfections influence on buckling response of sandwich cylinders are also presented.

Structural Modeling↗

Filament winding cylinders. I - Process model

A model was developed which describes the filament winding process of composite cylinders. The model relates the significant process variables such as winding speed, fiber tension, and applied temperature to the thermal, chemical and mechanical behavior of the composite cylinder and the mandrel. Based on the model, a user friendly code was written which can be used to calculate (1) the temperature in the cylinder and the mandrel, (2) the degree of cure and viscosity in the cylinder, (3) the fiber tensions and fiber positions, (4) the stresses and strains in the cylinder and in the mandrel, and (5) the void diameters in the cylinder.

Lee, Soo-Yong↗

Experimental evaluation of damping of graphite fiber composites

An investigation is described that was conducted to measure the damping of graphite fiber composites such as are to be used on the Hubble Space Telescope. The measurements were made on a composite cylinder under normal atmospheric conditions and in a vacuum chamber with varying thermal conditions. Such composites can outgas under vacuum conditions and this emission of trapped gases may have some influence on the material damping. Some results are presented for the damping coefficient measured under normal atmospheric conditions for a graphite fiber composite. The experimental damping data thus obtained were compared with the least square estimate obtained through a statistical analysis. The statistical analysis was based on a linear mathematical model consisting of a spring in parallel with a dashpot. It is observed that the discrepancy in the damping ratio between logarithmic decrement result and the least square fit is less than 6 percent for all the different tests made on the composite cylinder. Signal-to-noise ratio was maintained to be greater than 10.

Rao, M. D.↗

Axisymmetric micromechanics of elastic-perfectly plastic fibrous composites under uniaxial tension loading

The uniaxial response of a continuous fiber elastic-perfectly plastic composite is modeled herein as a two-element composite cylinder. An axisymmetric analytical micromechanics solution is obtained for the rate-independent elastic-plastic response of the two-element composite cylinder subjected to tensile loading in the fiber direction for the case wherein the core fiber is assumed to be a transversely isotropic elastic-plastic material obeying the Tsai-Hill yield criterion, with yielding simulating fiber failure. The matrix is assumed to be an isotropic elastic-plastic material obeying the Tresca yield criterion. It is found that there are three different circumstances that depend on the fiber and matrix properties: fiber yield, followed by matrix yielding; complete matrix yield, followed by fiber yielding; and partial matrix yield, followed by fiber yielding, followed by complete matrix yield. The order in which these phenomena occur is shown to have a pronounced effect on the predicted uniaxial effective composite response.

Lee, Jong-Won↗

Investigation of Composite Structures

This final report consists of a compilation of four separate written documents, three dealing with the response and failure of elliptical composite cylinders to an internal pressure load, and the fourth dealing with the influence of manufacturing imperfections in curved composite panels. The three focused on elliptical cylinders consist of the following: 1 - A paper entitled "Progressive Failure Analysis of Internally Pressurized Elliptical Composite Cylinders," 2 - A paper entitled "Influence of Geometric Nonlinearities on the Response and Failure of Internally Pressurized Elliptical Composite Cylinders," and 3 - A report entitled "Response and Failure of Internally Pressurized Elliptical Composite Cyclinders." The document which deals with the influence of manufacturing imperfections is a paper entitled "Manufacturing Distortions of Curved Composite Panels."

Hyer, Michael W.↗

Validation of the filament winding process model

Tests were performed toward validating the WIND model developed previously for simulating the filament winding of composite cylinders. In these tests two 24 in. long, 8 in. diam and 0.285 in. thick cylinders, made of IM-6G fibers and HBRF-55 resin, were wound at + or - 45 deg angle on steel mandrels. The temperatures on the inner and outer surfaces and inside the composite cylinders were recorded during oven cure. The temperatures inside the cylinders were also calculated by the WIND model. The measured and calculated temperatures were then compared. In addition, the degree of cure and resin viscosity distributions inside the cylinders were calculated for the conditions which existed in the tests.

Calius, Emilo P.↗

Thermal conduction in a composite circular cylinder - A new technique for thermal conductivity measurements of lunar core samples

A technique is described for the measurement of the thermal conductivity of lunar core samples. According to their technique, the core sample is heated radiatively from the outside at a known rate, the temperature is measured at the surface of the core-tube, and the thermal conductivity of the sample is determined by comparing the measured temperature with the theory. The corresponding problems for a composite slab or sphere were solved and the solutions are presented for possible future application to the thermal conductivity measurements. The experimental apparatus construction and procedure are examined as well as the number of precautions taken to preserve the sample from disturbances and to improve the measurement results.

Horal, K.↗

Thermal stress analysis of a silicon carbide/aluminum composite

Thermal deformations and stresses were studied in a silicon-carbide/aluminum filamentary composite at temperatures up to 370 C (700 F). Longitudinal and transverse thermal strains were measured with strain gages and a dilatometer. An elastoplastic micromechanical analysis based on a one-dimensional rule-of-mixtures model and an axisymmetric two-material composite cylinder model was performed. It was established that beyond a critical temperature thermal strains become nonlinear with decreasing longitudinal and increasing transverse thermal-expansion coefficients. This behavior was attributed to the plastic stresses in the aluminum matrix above the critical temperature. An elastoplastic analysis of both micromechanical models was performed to determine the stress distributions and thermal deformation in the fiber and matrix of the composite. While only axial stresses can be determined by the rule-of-mixtures model, the complete triaxial state of stress is established by the composite cylinder model. Theoretical predictions for the two thermal-expansion coefficients were in satisfactory agreement with experimental results.

Gdoutos, E. E.↗

Thermal conduction in a composite circular cylinder: A new technique for thermal conductivity measurements of lunar core samples

The core sample is heated from the outside at a known rate and the rise in temperature at the surface of the core tube is measured. Because the temperature at the surface, increasing with time, is a function of the thermal properties of both the core tube and the sample, the thermal properties of the sample can be estimated by comparing the measured temperature with the theory, provided that the thermal properties of the core tube are known. Thus it is not necessary to extract the sample from the core tube to make the measurements. Neither is it necessary to insert a heater, or temperature sensor, into the sample within the core tube, as would be required if another method were applied. The sample remains intact after the measurements. The temperature change in the sample can be kept to a minimum as long as the thermal conductivity determination is possible with a reasonable precision. If the radiative method of heat transfer is chosen, the core tube will only be in mechanical contact with the sample holder and a sensor attached to the core tube to measure the surface temperature, thereby greatly reducing the possibility of disturbing the sample.

Horai, K.↗

Analysis of thermal stresses in polymer matrix composites

In the present micromechanics study of the thermally-induced stress field which emerges at very low temperatures in the matrix and fibers of continuous fiber-reinforced polymer composites, the results obtained by a specialized FEM analysis are compared to an analytical solution of the composite cylinder model for several composite materials. Attention is given to the influence of microstructural geometry and constituent properties; it is established that the distributions and magnitudes of the thermally-induced stresses are affected by the assumed microstructural geometry of the sample. While matrix stresses are not a strong function of fiber properties, the temperature dependence of the matrix properties significantly affects the magnitudes of thermally-induced matrix stresses.

Bowles, David E.↗

A model of filament-wound thin cylinders

A model was developed for simulating he manufacturing process of filament-wound cylinders made of a thermoset matrix composite. The model relates the process variables (winding speed, fiber tension, applied temperature) to the parameters characterizing the composite cylinder and the mandrel. The model is applicable to cylinders for which the diameter is large compared to the wall thickness. The model was implemented by a user-friendly computer code suitable for generating numerical results.

Calius, Emilio P.↗

Vibroacoustic Response Data of Stiffened Panels and Cylinders

NASA has collected vibroacoustic response data on a variety of complex, aerospace structures to support research into numerical modeling of such structures. This data is being made available to the modeling community to promote the development and validation of analysis methods for these types of structures. Existing data from two structures is described, as well as plans for a data set from a third structure. The first structure is a 1.22 m by 1.22 m stiffened aluminum panel, typical of a commercial aircraft sidewall section. The second is an enclosed, stiffened aluminum cylinder, approximately 3.66 m long and 1.22 m in diameter, constructed to resemble a small aircraft fuselage with no windows and a periodic structure. The third structure is a filament-wound composite cylinder with composite stiffeners. Numerous combinations of excitation and response variables were measured on the structures, including: shaker excitation; diffuse acoustic field; velocity response from a laser vibrometer; intensity scans; and point acceleration.

Cabell, Randolph↗