Finite element analysis for composite structures (Q1390744)

The development of composite materials caused a revolution in recent years in such types of engineering structures as aerospace, automotive and underwater structures. The high ratios of stiffness and strength to weight, and other properties such as environmental resistance, and the resistance to chemical attack, make composite materials increasingly popular as potential candidates for material substitution. To take the advantage of full potential of composite materials, structural analysts and designers must have accurate mathematical and computational models and design methods at their disposal. The subject of this book is a computer analysis of three-dimensional composite structures using the finite element (FE) method. Natural mode method of the FE analysis is used to treat the linear and nonlinear behaviour of multilayered composite beams, plates and shells of arbitrary geometry. The text leads from the analysis of composite beams to the analysis of anisotropic composite plates and shells. The authors present the theory of natural modes for finite elements and give the corresponding computer programs written in Fortran 77. One of the advantages of the presented formulation of stiffness relationships is that all integrations required in the element stiffness matrices are performed in closed form. This property leads to very general formulations and to considerable savings in computing time. The reader guided by this philosophy can extend the presented FE formulation to other applications. The book contains nine chapters and two appendices. Chapter 1 gives a brief survey on continuum mechanics (states of stresses and strains, strain energy) and formulates the principle of virtual work and the stationary of potential energy. Chapter 2 describes a brief history of the FEM and the foundations of natural mode FEM. The basic concepts of natural modes and natural stiffness matrix are introduced in chapter 3. Chapter 4 provides a general background of the mechanics of composites. An application of natural mode method to composite beams in three dimensions is given in chapter 5; the presented theory is supported by numerical examples. Chapter 5 contains also twenty-four problems. Chapter 6 shows how the FE model works being applied to composite plates and shells. The presented FE formulation of triangular plate and shell elements is validated by fifteen numerical examples; additionally, chapter 6 contains twenty-five problems. Chapter 7 discusses the computational aspects of the FE method on a model problem (composite cylindrical panel under edge load and temperature increase). In chapter 8, the authors give a nonlinear analysis of anisotropic and composite shells based on the natural mode method and on the cylindrical arc-length method to obtain the loading path. Numerical examples illustrate the advantages and accuracy of the applied algorithm. The final chapter 9 deals with programming aspects. Appendix A describes the geometry of three-dimensional beam elements; the contents of floppy disk accompaying the book is given in appendix B. The floppy disk contains a model computer program for static and buckling analyses of isotropic and laminated beams, frames and large three-dimensional beam assemblies. There is an extensive list of references at the end of the book, the material is well chosen and cleary presented. The book is highly recommended as a reference text for advanced undergraduate students, as a graduate course on the FE analysis of composites, and as a reference work for both researchers in laboratories and practising engineers in industry.