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A formulation has been developed for thermo‐elastoviscoplastic finite element analyses of continuous fibre‐reinforced composite plates subject to bending loading using a generalized continuum mechanics approach. Such an approach is used to model the non‐homogeneity in a composite, which is constituted by fibres embedded in a matrix material. The present formulation computes the respective stresses occurring in each constituent so that the respective yield criterion and flow rule of each constituent may be used if there is a material yielding in any constituent. Thermo‐elastic deformation of fibre and thermo‐elastoviscoplastic deformation of matrix are considered in the present study because the yield strength of fibre is substantially higher than that of matrix in many cases. Both constituents are assumed to be isotropic so that the von‐Mises yield criterion may be used for viscoplastic yielding of matrix. As numerical examples, a parametric study is performed for thermo‐elastoviscoplastic deformations of laminated composite plates subject to thermal bending loads.

With the widespread use of the composites over other metallic materials in different fields of engineering, studies on damages of composite structures have assumed great importance. Among various kinds of damages, delamination is of very serious concern to composite applications. It may arise as a consequence of impact loading, stress concentration near a geometrical or material discontinuity or manufacturing defects. The presence of one or more delaminations in the composite laminate may lead to a premature collapse of the structure due to buckling at a lower level of compressive loading. So the effect of delamination on stability of composite structures needs attention and thus constitutes a problem of current interest. The purpose of this paper is to deal with both numerical and experimental investigations on buckling behaviour of single and multiple, delaminated, industry driven, woven roving glass/epoxy composite plates on clamped free clamped free (CFCF) rectangular plates.

For numerical analysis, a finite element model was developed with an eight noded two dimensional quadratic isoparametric element having five degrees of freedom per node. The elastic stiffness matrices were derived using linear first order shear deformation theory with a shear correction factor. Green's nonlinear strain equations are used to derive the geometric stiffness matrix. The computation of buckling load based on present formulation is compared with the experimental results for the effect of different parameters on critical load of the delaminated composite panels. In the experimental study, the influences of various parameters such as delamination area, fiber orientations, number of layers, aspect ratios on the buckling behaviour of single and multiple delaminated woven roving glass/epoxy composite plates were investigated. Buckling loads were measured by INSTRON 1195 machine for the delaminated composite plates.

Comparison of numerical results with experimental results showed a good agreement. Both the results revealed that the area of delaminations, fiber orientations, number of layers and aspect ratio have paramount influence on the buckling behaviour of delaminated plate.

The present study is part of Jayaram Mohanty's doctoral thesis, an original research work.

Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a general mathematical model for the evaluation of the bending and vibration responses of the skew sandwich composite plate using higher-order shear deformation theory. The sandwich structural components are highly preferable in modern engineering application because of their desirable structural advantages despite the manufacturing and analysis complexities. The present model is developed to solve the bending and vibration problem of the skew sandwich composite plate with adequate accuracy numerically in the absence of the experimental analysis.

The skew sandwich composite plate structure is modelled in the present analysis by considering laminated face sheet in conjunction with isotropic and/or orthotropic core numerically with the help of the higher-order mathematical model. Further, the responses are computed numerically with the help of in-house computer code developed in matrix laboratory (MATLAB) environment in conjunction with finite element (FE) steps. The system governing equations are derived via variational technique for the computation of the static and the frequency responses.

The skew sandwich composite plate is investigated using the higher-order kinematic model where the transverse displacement through the thickness is considered to be linear. The convergence and the validation study of the bending and the frequency values of the sandwich structure indicate the necessary accuracy. Further, the current model has been used to highlight the applicability of the higher-order kinematics for the evaluation of the sandwich structural responses (frequency and static deflections) for different design parameters.

In the present paper, the bending and the vibration responses of the skew sandwich composite plate are analysed numerically using the equivalent single-layer higher-order kinematic theory for the isotropic and the orthotropic core numerically with the help of isoparametric FE steps. Finally, it is understood that the present model is capable of solving the sandwich structural responses with less computation cost and adequate accuracy.

This paper aims to study, the effects of opening shape, size and position as well as the aspect (height-to-length) ratio on the shear capacity, stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of triple-skin profiled steel-concrete composite shear wall (TSCSW) and investigate and compare them to those of concrete-stiffened steel plate shear walls (CSPSW). Two kinds of opening, circular and square, with different sizes and positions and two aspect ratios of 1:1 and 3:1 are considered in the simulations.

This study presents a novel TSCSW and compares its behavior with the existing CSPSW under the effect of monotonic and cyclic loadings. TSCSW is composed of three corrugated steel plates filled with concrete. The two external side plates are connected to the concrete core by means of several intermediate fasteners and the third one is an inner steel plate embedded within the concrete panel. The internal plate is a buckling restrained plate surrounded by concrete. This is the main superiority of TSCSW over other kinds of existing composite shear walls.

The results show that the shear capacity and the energy dissipation capacity of the proposed composite wall, TSCSW, are respectively about 16 and 12% higher than those of CSPSW when there is no opening. If an opening is considered in the wall, as the size of the opening is increased, the shear capacity, stiffness, ductility and absorbed energy of the two walls are decreased similarly. The destructive effect of square openings on the performance of the walls is more than that of circular openings.

This is an original work.

The purpose of this paper is to model a nacre-like composite material, consisting of tablets and polyurea tablet/tablet interfaces, B₄C. This composite material is being considered in the construction of the so-called backing-plate, a layer within a multi-functional/multi-layer armor system.

Considering the basic functions of the backing-plate (i.e. to provide structural support for the ceramic-strike-face and to stop a high-velocity projectile and the accompanying fragments) in such an armor system, the composite-material architecture is optimized with respect to simultaneously achieving high flexural stiffness and high ballistic-penetration resistance. Flexural stiffness and penetration resistance, for a given architecture of the nacre-like composite material, are assessed using a series of transient non-linear dynamics finite-element analyses. The suitability of the optimized composite material for use in backing-plate applications is then evaluated by comparing its performance against that of the rolled homogeneous armor (RHA), a common choice for the backing-plate material.

The results obtained established: a trade-off between the requirements for a high flexural stiffness and a high ballistic-penetration resistance in the nacre-like composite material; and overall superiority of the subject composite material over the RHA when used in the construction of the backing-plate within multi-functional/multi-layer armor systems.

This study extends the authors previous research on nacre-mimetic armor to optimize the architecture of the armor with respect to its flexural stiffness and ballistic-penetration resistance, so that these properties could be increased over the levels attained in the current choice (RHA) for the backing layer of multi-functional/multi-layer armor.

This study aims to demonstrate the numerical application of differential quadrature (DQ) methods and show the experimental application of free vibration analysis of fiber-metal laminated composite (FML) plates with various boundary conditions.

The FMLs are hybrid structures consisting of fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites such as carbon, glass, aramid and different metal sheets, and are currently widely used in the automobile, aircraft and aerospace industries. Thus, free vibration analysis of these hybrid materials is necessary for the design process. The governing equations of motion are derived based on the classical plate theory. The DQ, generalized DQ (GDQ) and harmonic DQ (HDQ) differential quadrature methods have been used to solve the governing equations of an FML composite plate numerically. The accuracy and convergence of the numerical model have been verified by comparing the results available in the published literature with the results obtained from these methods. Moreover, an experimental procedure has been performed in order to compare the results against those of the numerical methods.

It is noteworthy that a high degree of similarity and accuracy was observed between the numerical results obtained by the DQ methods and the experimental results. Thus, the present study validates the applicability of the DQ methods for designing the FML composite plates.

In this study, the advantages of the DQ methods have been demonstrated differently from previous studies on the vibration analysis of the FML plates.

The purpose of the study is to obtain and analyze vibro-acoustic characteristics.

A unified analysis model for the rotary composite laminated plate and conical–cylindrical double cavities coupled system is established. The related parameters of the unified model are determined by isoparametric transformation. The modified Fourier series are applied to construct the admissible displacement function and the sound pressure tolerance function of the coupled systems. The energy functional of the structure domain and acoustic field domain is established, respectively, and the structure–acoustic coupling potential energy is introduced to obtain the energy functional. Rayleigh–Ritz method was used to solve the energy functional.

The displacement and sound pressure response of the coupled systems are acquired by introducing the internal point sound source excitation, and the influence of relevant parameters of the coupled systems is researched. Through research, it is found that the impedance wall can reduce the amplitude of the sound pressure response and suppress the resonance of the coupled systems. Besides, the composite laminated plate has a good noise reduction effect.

This study can provide the theoretical guidance for vibration and noise reduction.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt the buckling analysis of a laminated composite skew plate using the C₀ finite element (FE) model based on higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) in conjunction with minimax probability machine regression (MPMR) and multivariate adaptive regression spline (MARS).

HSDT considers the third-order variation of in-plane displacements which eliminates the use of shear correction factor owing to realistic parabolic transverse shear stresses across the thickness coordinate. At the top and bottom of the plate, zero transverse shear stress condition is imposed. C₀ FE model based on HSDT is developed and coded in formula translation (FORTRAN). FE model is validated and found efficient to create new results. MPMR and MARS models are coded in MATLAB. Using skew angle (α), stacking sequence (Ai) and buckling strength (Y) as input parameters, a regression problem is formulated using MPMR and MARS to predict the buckling strength of laminated composite skew plates.

The results of the MPMR and MARS models are in good agreement with the FE model result. MPMR is a better tool than MARS to analyze the buckling problem.

The present work considers the linear behavior of the laminated composite skew plate.

To the authors’ best of knowledge, there is no work in the literature on the buckling analysis of a laminated composite skew plate using C₀ FE formulation based on third-order shear deformation theory in conjunction with MPMR and MARS. These machine-learning techniques increase efficiency, reduce the computational time and reduce the cost of analysis. Further, an equation is generated with the MARS model via which the buckling strength of the laminated composite skew plate can be predicted with ease and simplicity.

The present investigation is concerned with the utilisation of the finite element technique for predicting the natural frequencies and the modal damping factor (also called the loss factor) of anisotropic fibre‐reinforced composite laminated plates. The simple definition of the modal damping factor is defined as the ratio of the strain energy dissipated per radian of vibration, in the mode of interest, to the total strain energy of the entire laminate at maximum displacement during the same cycle. Results for the vibration and damping analysis of multi‐layered plates obtained by the present methods are compared with the results obtained by other authors and with the results of experiments.