Sei sulla pagina 1di 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

1. Introduction
In the present report, the differences between a composite-made structure and a metallic-made one are shown, studying a particular and easy case. It will be shown that, for the present case with its characteristics, the composites lead to same results but with a nice weight reduction in comparison with the metallic case.

1.1 Description of the problem


The problem to analyze consists in a rectangular plate (1 [m] x 0.5 [m]) whose displacements are restrained in two contiguous edges. A traction force is applied in the direction of its length, opposite to the constrained edge, In the next figure, a scheme of the situation is represented.

CAMBIAR FOTO

The procedure is quite simple: given the characteristics of both materials, the first step is to determine the maximum force applicable to the metallic plate. Once this force is calculated (considering a thickness of 6 [mm] for the metallic plate), it is possible to determine how many plies (and their orientations) are going to be needed to build a composite plate, with the same width and length, that can support the maximum force previously calculated for the metallic plate.

1.2 Material properties


So, as it was said before, the properties of the materials are required. In table 1 and 2, the properties of the metal (aluminum) and composite (carbon/epoxy) materials are shown. It is important to remark that each of the composite plies is going to be considered to have the same thickness, equal to 0.125 [mm], and that are unidirectional plies.
Page 1 of 11

Mechanics of Composites
Properties Elastic modulus Poisson ratio Mass Density Elastic limit

Composite plate
Value 60000 0.25 2900 190 Units MPa --Kg/m3 MPa

Nicols Yurac

Table 1 Aluminum properties


Properties Elastic modulus Poisson ratio Mass density Shear coefficient Tensile strength Comp. strength Shear strength Direction 1 39750 0.25 1900 4200 1120 710 63 Direction 2 6590 0.25 --4200 42 110 80 Direction 3 6590 0.25 --4200 42 110 80 Units MPa --Kg/m3 MPa MPa MPa MPa

Table 2 Carbon/epoxy properties

As a remark, the properties of the carbon/epoxy are referred to each ply, and direction 1 is considered to be the direction of the fibers. This can be induced by comparing the higher strengths (tensile and compression) with respect to the directions 2 and 3.

2. Resolution
As it was mentioned before, the main goal is to obtain the number of plies and their orientation in order to obtain a composite-made plate, with the same dimensions as the metallic one that can support the same maximum force admissible in the initial metallic structure. To solve the problem, Samcef Field is going to be used as the tool of modeling and calculation. The first step is to build an FEM with the geometry and the boundary conditions of the problem, considering the metallic case initially to obtain the maximum force.

2.1 Metallic plate


The geometry and mesh are shown in figure 2. Due to the simplicity of the geometry, the mesh was chosen to be automatically generated, since this option would lead to a mesh made of quadratic elements. However, it is important to remark again that this option is considered just because of the nature of the problem and its simplicity. Any other problems would not necessarily lead to the same result and a more detailed
Page 2 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

mesh definition would be required. The present mesh has, as a consequence, only quadratic elements, with 11 elements along the width of the plate and 26 along its length. In figure 3 and 4 the boundary conditions are shown. These are defined in the Analysis data section of the program. In figure 3, it is possible to see the locking imposed on the two edges, along axes x and z. These locking would maintain the plate under the same displacement restrictions shown in figure 1. In figure 4, the force applied on the other extreme of the plate is shown. Since we want to obtain the maximum force, an initial value of 10 [kN] will be used. By knowing the elastic limit of the material (see table 1) and calculating the equivalent stress of the plate with 10 [kN] it is possible to obtain the maximum force by cross-multiplying. This procedure is developed further in this report. Also, in the Analysis data section the properties of the aluminum are entered (as an elastic, isotropic material), as well as the behavior desired. For the present case, it easy to see, due to the geometry and the boundary conditions, that the problem can be perfectly studied using shell behavior on the plate.

Fig. 2 FEM model of the plate: geometry and mesh

Page 3 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

Fig. 3 FEM model of the plate: locking of the edges

Fig. 4 FEM model of the plate: force on the edge

Once the calculation is done, the displacements and an equivalent stress equal to 3.3 [MPa] are found. These 2 results are shown in figure 5 and 6 respectively.

Page 4 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

Fig. 4 FEM model of the plate: displacements

Fig. 5 FEM model of the plate: equivalent stress

From figure 4 it is possible to see that the displacements are consistent with the imposed boundary conditions. In figure 5, the equivalent stress for the lower skin is shown. It is important to note that, for the present case, it is not relevant if the lower or upper skin is chosen, since the force acts over these two skins equally. Now, with the equivalent stress calculated, it is possible to see the actual maximum force applicable on the metallic plate. The equivalent stress is 3.3 [MPa], which is much lower than the elastic limit of the material (190 [MPa]). This means that the imposed force of 10 [kN] is actually lower than the maximum force. By cross multiplying, the maximum force is then obtained:

Page 5 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

Fmax =

y eq

10 [ ] 190 [ kN MPa ] = 570 [ ] kN 3. [ 3 MPa ]

Where F is the force imposed in the FEM, eq is the equivalent stress found previously and y is the elastic limit of the material.

2.2 Composite plate


Now that the maximum force that the metallic plate supports was calculated, the next step is to create the laminate plate. First of all, the geometry and boundary conditions are the same as the metallic plate; however, the properties of the ply are needed to be entered in Samcef Field in order to define the laminate properly. Also, the number of plies needs to be determined. The orientation of each ply is another important issue. Due to the characteristics of the problem, it is easy to deduce that all of the plies should have their fibers oriented in the direction in which the force is applied. This is because it is in this direction where the higher resistances of the material are oriented. Knowing all of the previous stuffs, we can now proceed to obtain the number of plies required. To do this, the Tsai-Wu criterion is initially used. The Tsai-Wu criterion in the orthotropy axis is defined as:
2 2 2 F11 F22 F66 F111 F222 F666 2F1212 1

Now, because in this case all stresses in any other direction than the fiber (direction 1) can be neglected, the Tsai-Wu criterion can be rewritten simply as:
2 F11 F111 1

Where:

F1

1 1 XT XC

; F11

1 X T XC

Solving this inequation gives a limit number of 1 = 1120 [MPa] in order to reach the failure. Then, knowing that the height of the plate is equal to 50 [mm], the thickness of the plate is obtained as:

Page 6 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

F max ht

1120[ MPa ]

570[ ] kN 50 [ ] t mm

t 0. 001018m ] 1. [ ] [ 018 mm

Finally, knowing that each ply has a thickness of 0.125 [mm], the number of plies requires is equal to 8.14, which means that if we build the plate with 8 plies, it would fail. For this reason, the plate will have 9 plies, with a total thickness of 1.125 [ mm] and the whole laminate will have its fibers oriented in the direction where the force is applied (i.e. direction 1 is the same as direction x). Doing the same procedure with the Tsai-Hill and the Hashin criteria results with the same final conclusion: a 9 plies laminate is required in order to support the maximum force that a metallic plate can resist. Now that the number of plies was established, the laminate can be created. Having defined the characteristics of one ply, we select a composite shell behavior for the face and define the laminate. Figure 6 shows how the laminate was defined in the software. It can be seen the 9 plies, all oriented to the local x axis.

Fig. 6 Building of the laminate

It is important to take into account the orientation of the fiber in the local coordinates with respect of the general coordinates of the problem, This means that the local x direction (direction 1 in the numerical notation) should coincide with the general x direction; while the local z direction (direction 3 in the numerical notation) should be the y direction in the general coordinates. The next picture shows that the orientation of the
material over the face accomplishes the previous requirements.

Page 7 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

Fig. 7 Fiber correctly oriented, parallel to the direction of the force

Once all of the conditions are defined it is possible to obtain the results. Figures 8 to 10 show the result using a model with 9 plies with the Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill and Hashin criteria respectively. It is possible to see that the results obtained with Samcef Field are consistent with what was exposed before, obtaining a final value for each of the criteria lower than 1.

Fig. 8 Results of the Tsai-Wu criterion using 9 plies

Page 8 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

Fig. 9 Results of the Tsai-Hill criterion using 9 plies

Fig. 10 Results of the Hashin criterion (considering matrix and fibers) using 9 plies

It is also important to note that, due to the characteristics of the problem, the three criteria shows very similar results. Also, in order to corroborate the correct number of plies, the same procedure was done considering 8 plies. Figure 11 shows the results for this case using the Tsai-Wu criterion. It is clearly seen that the criterion now shows that the material failed. Once again, similar results were obtained through the other 2 criteria.

Page 9 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

Fig. 11 Results of the Tsai-Wu criterion using 8 plies

It is possible now to calculate the maximum force that the plate can resist. Knowing that at 1 = 1120 [MPa] the plate will fail, as it was previously explained, the force that will lead to that stress is then calculated as:

Fmax, comp ht

1120[ MPa ]

Fmax, comp 50 [ ] 1. [ ] mm 125 mm

Fmax, kN ] comp 630[

This force is considerably higher than the maximum obtained with the metallic plate (570 [kN]), gaining a 10.5% in the maximum force now admissible. Figure 12 corroborates this, showing the results when a force of 630 [kN] is applied. It can be seen that the criterion is practically equal to 1 over the plate. Again, the same behavior is present for the other criteria.

Page 10 of 11

Mechanics of Composites

Composite plate

Nicols Yurac

Fig. 12 Results of the Tsai-Wu criterion using 9 plies and the critical force

2.3 Mass and volume reduction


It was already shown that a composite plate can support the same conditions of a metallic plate in the present case, and even resist to a higher force. One factor that is also relevant is the mass reduction due to the composite material. Table 3 shows the mass, thickness and volume for each plate.
Properties Aluminum plate Composite plate Reduction Mass [kg[ 8.7 1.069 87.72% Thickness [mm] 6 1.125 81.25% Volume [m3] 0.003 0.0005625 81.25%

Table 3 Mass, thickness and volume of each plate

A considerable reduction in both the mass and the volume of the plate is obtained, being the most relevant the 87.72% mass loss for the composite plate respect to the metallic one. This is another clear advantage of the composite material at least, of course, for the studied case.

3. Conclusions
The advantages of using a composite material were shown through a simple example. Mainly, the possibility of supporting conditions applicable to a metallic plate with considerable less mass and volume was demonstrated. However, the simplicity of the present case cannot be extrapolated for any case; a profound analysis for each specific application desired should be done in order to define the best option. For this reason, other factors should be considered too, i.e. the cost of each material. A FEM model built in Samcef Field was used to accomplish this objective. For the present case, the selection of the failure criteria was not relevant due to the characteristics of the problem. Nevertheless, for more complex cases, the criteria selection is a fundamental step of the whole modeling process.

Page 11 of 11

Potrebbero piacerti anche