Transient analysis of FGM and laminated composite structures using a refined 8-node ANS shell element

In this paper, we investigate the vibration analysis of functionally graded material (FGM) and laminated composite structures, using a refined 8-node shell element that allows for the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia. The properties of FGM vary continuously through the thickness direction according to the volume fraction of constituents defined by sigmoid function, but in this method, their Poisson’s ratios of the FGM plates and shells are assumed to be constant. The finite element, based on a first-order shear deformation theory, is further improved by the combined use of assumed natural strains and different sets of collocation points for interpolation the different strain components. We analyze the influence of the shell element with the various location and number of enhanced membrane and shear interpolation. Using the assumed natural strain method with proper interpolation functions the present shell element generates neither membrane nor shear locking behavior even when full integration is used in the formulation. The natural frequencies of plates and shells are presented, and the forced vibration analysis of FGM and laminated composite plates and shells subjected to arbitrary loading is carried out. In order to overcome membrane and shear locking phenomena, the assumed natural strain method is used. To validate and compare the finite element numerical solutions, the reference solutions of plates based on the Navier’s method, the series solutions of sigmoid FGM (S-FGM) plates are obtained. Results of the present theory show good agreement with the reference solutions. In addition the effect of damping is investigated on the forced vibration analysis of FGM plates and shells.     

A co-rotational 8-node assumed strain shell element for postbuckling analysis of laminated composite plates and shells

 The formulation of a nonlinear composite shell element is presented for the solution of stability problems of composite plates and shells. The formulation of the geometrical stiffness presented here is exactly defined on the midsurface and is efficient for analyzing stability problems of thin and thick laminated plates and shells by incorporating bending moment and transverse shear resultant forces. The composite element is free of both membrane and shear locking behaviour by using the assumed natural strain method such that the element performs very well as thin shells. The transverse shear stiffness is defined by an equilibrium approach instead of using the shear correction factor. The proposed formulation is computationally efficient and the test results showed good agreement. In addition the effect of the viscoelastic material is investigated on the postbuckling behaviour of laminated composite shells. Received: 6 February 2002 / Accecpted: 6 January 2003 ID=" Present address: School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology     

Analysis for buckling and vibrations of composite stiffened shells and plates

This paper deals with development of triangular finite element for buckling and vibration analysis of laminated composite stiffened shells. For the laminated shell, an equivalent layer shell theory is employed. The first-order shear deformation theory including extension of the normal line is used. In order to take into account a non-homogeneous distribution of the transverse shear stresses a correction of transverse shear stiffness is employed. Based on the equivalent layer theory with six degrees of freedom (three displacements and three rotations), a finite element that ensures C⁰ continuity of the displacement and rotation fields across inter-element boundaries has been developed. Numerical examples are presented to show the accuracy and convergence characteristics of the element. Results of vibration and buckling analysis of stiffened plates and shells are discussed.     

基于共旋三角形厚薄通用壳元的几何非线性分析

基于共旋列式方法发展了一种用于复合材料层合板结构几何非线性分析的简单高效的三结点三角形平板壳元。该壳元由具有面内转动自由度的广义协调膜元GT9与假设剪切应变场和假设单元转角场的广义协调厚薄通用板元TMT组合而成。为避免薄膜闭锁而采用单点积分计算与薄膜应变有关的项, 同时增加一个稳定化矩阵以消除单点积分导致的零能模式。基于层合板一阶剪切变形理论, 给出了考虑层合板具体铺层顺序的修正的横向剪切刚度, 使该壳元可用于中厚层合板结构的分析。由于共旋列式大转动小应变的假设, 共旋列式内核的几何线性的单元刚阵可仅计算一次而保存下来用于整个几何非线性求解的过程以提高计算效率。数值算例表明提出的壳元进行包括复合材料层合板结构的厚薄壳结构的几何非线性分析的精度高且效率高。     

Nonlinear free vibration analysis of laminated composite shells in hygrothermal environments

The nonlinear free vibration behaviour of laminated composite shells subjected to hygrothermal environments is investigated using the finite element method. The present finite element formulation considers doubly curved shells, and the Green–Lagrange type nonlinear strains are incorporated into the first-order shear deformation theory. The analysis is carried out using quadratic eight-noded isoparametric elements. The validity of the model is demonstrated by comparing the present results with the solutions available in the literature. A parametric study is carried out varying the curvature ratios and side to thickness ratios of composite cylindrical shell, spherical shell and hyperbolic paraboloid shell panels with simply supported boundary conditions.     

Elastic stability of skew laminated composite plates subjected to biaxial follower forces

The present study investigates the elastic stability of skew laminated composite plates subjected to biaxial inplane follower forces by the finite element method. The plate is assumed to follow first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDPT). The kinetic and strain energies of skew laminated composite plate and the work done by the biaxial inplane follower forces are derived by using tensor theory. Then, by Hamilton's principle, the dynamic mathematical model to describe the free vibration of this problem is formed. The finite element method and the isoparametric element are utilized to discretize the continuous system and to obtain the characteristic equations of the present problem. Finally, natural vibration frequencies, buckling loads (also the instability types) and their corresponding mode shapes are found by solving the characteristic equations. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the effects of those parameters, such as various inplane force combinations, skew angle and lamination scheme, on the elastic stability of skew laminated composite plates subjected to biaxial inplane follower forces.     

实体退化板单元及其在板的振动分析中的应用

经典板壳单元是由板壳理论构造出来的,而经典的板壳理论是在空间弹性理论的基础上考虑板壳的基本假定得来的。在空间等参数单元的基础上,直接引入板壳的基本假定,修改空间等参数单元的弹性矩阵,从而构造出适合于厚薄板壳分析的20结点实体退化板单元,并将其应用于开口圆柱薄壳的静力分析和厚薄板的固有振动分析。数值算例表明,该单元收敛快,稳定性好,具有较高的精度。此外,该单元还可以用于曲边变厚度板、壳体及层合板的振动分析。     

Bending,buckling and free vibration of non-homogeneous composite laminated cylindrical shells using a refined first-order theory

The bending, buckling and free vibration problems of non-homogeneous composite laminated cylindrical shells are considered. Hamilton–Reissner's mixed variational principle is used to deduce a consistent first-order theory of composite laminated cylindrical shells with non-homogeneous elastic properties. The governing equations with their required boundary conditions are derived without introducing any shear correction factors. Numerical results for the transverse deflections, stresses, natural frequencies and critical buckling loads are presented to show the advantages of this theory. The influences of the non-homogeneity and thickness ratio on the shell structural response are investigated. The study concludes that the inclusion of the non-homogeneity effect is required, even if it is weak, for predicting the actual structural response of the shells.     

Static and free vibration analysis of composite shells by radial basis functions

The higher-order shear deformation theory of laminated orthotropic elastic shells of Reddy accounts for parabolic distribution of the transverse shear strains through the thickness of the shell. The Reddy shell theory allows the fulfillment of homogeneous conditions (zero values) at the top and bottom surfaces of the shell. This paper deals with a meshless solution of the Reddy higher order shell theory in static and free vibration analysis. The meshless technique is based on the asymmetric global multiquadric radial basis function method proposed by Kansa. This paper demonstrates that this truly meshless method is very successful in the static and free vibration analysis of laminated composite shells.     

A four‐noded quadrilateral element for composite laminated plates/shells using the refined zigzag theory

A new bilinear four‐noded quadrilateral element (called quadrilateral linear refined zigzag) for the analysis of composite laminated and sandwich plates/shells based on the refined zigzag theory is presented. The element has seven kinematic variables per node. Shear locking is avoided by introducing an assumed linear shear strain field. The performance of the element is studied in several examples where the reference solution is the 3D finite element analysis using 20‐noded hexahedral elements. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inter-laminar stresses in a laminated shallow shell panel

The evaluation of inter-laminar shear stresses in laminated shells using 2D finite element models involves cumbersome post-processing techniques. In this paper, a simple and efficient method has been proposed for accurate evaluation of transverse shear stresses in laminated composite shells by using a displacement-based C⁰ FE model derived from higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) and a least square error (LSE) method. In order to include the effect of three curvature terms in the strain components of composite shells, Sander’s approximations are followed. In this model, the first derivatives of transverse displacement have been treated as independent variables to overcome the problem of C¹ continuity in the FE implementation associated with the present shell theory (HSDT). The LSE method is applied at the post-processing stage, after in-plane stresses are calculated by using the present FE model based on HSDT. Thus, the proposed method is quite simple compared to the usual method of integrating the 3D equilibrium equations for the calculation of transverse stresses in laminated composite shells. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated in the numerical examples by comparison of the present results with those obtained from different models based on HSDT, exact analytical and 3D elasticity solutions.     

Static and Dynamic Analysis of Laminated Thick and Thin Plates and Shells by a Very Simple Displacement-based 3-D Hexahedral Element with Over-Integration

A very simple displacement-based hexahedral 32-node element (denoted as DPH32), with over-integration in the thickness direction, is developed in this paper for static and dynamic analyses of laminated composite plates and shells. In contrast to higher-order or layer-wise higher-order plate and shell theories which are widely popularized in the current literature, the proposed method does not develop specific theories of plates and shells with postulated kinematic assumptions, but simply uses the theory of 3-D solid mechanics and the widely-available solid elements. Over-integration is used to evaluate the element stiffness matrices of laminated structures with an arbitrary number of laminae, while only one element is used in the thickness direction without increasing the number of degrees of freedom. A stress-recovery approach is used to compute the distribution of transverse stresses by considering the equations of 3D elasticity. Comprehensive numerical results are presented for static, free vibration, and transient analyses of different laminated plates and shells, which agree well with existing solutions in the published literature, or solutions of very-expensive 3D models by commercial FEM codes. It is clearly shown that the proposed methodology can accurately and efficiently predict the structural and dynamical behavior of laminated composite plates and shells in a very simple and cost-effective manner.     

Free Vibration of Laminated Composite Shallow Shells Containing Piezoelectric Layers

The free vibration of laminated shallow shells containing piezoelectric layers is investigated in this article. A finite-element formulation based on the transverse shear deformation theory has been used to determine the natural frequencies, mode shapes, and modal voltages of laminated composite shell structures containing piezoelectric layers. Comparisons of degenerate cases with published results show excellent agreement. The effect of electromechanical coupling on the predicted natural frequencies is discussed. Results are presented for different geometries, laminate configurations, and boundary conditions. The effects of shell shallowness and piezoelectric layer thickness are also studied. Higher natural frequencies are obtained when the full electromechanical coupling is considered. It is also found that the natural frequencies increase considerably with the shell curvature, particularly for thin piezoelectric layers.     

Bending and vibration responses of laminated composite plates using an edge-based smoothing technique

In this paper, bending and vibration analysis of laminated composite plates is carried out using a novel triangular composite plate element based on an edge-based smoothing technique. The present formulation is based on the first-order shear deformation theory, and the discrete shear gap (DSG) method is employed to mitigate the shear locking. The smoothed Galerkin weak form is adopted to obtain the discretized system equations, and edge-based smoothing domains are used for the numerical integration to improve the accuracy and the convergence rate of the method. The present formulation is coded and used to solve various example problems of bending and free vibration of laminated composite plates. It is found that the present method can provide excellent results with a wide range of thickness and is free of shear locking.     

复合材料层板的拟协调罚单元*

本文在文献提出的多变量拟协调元和罚函数相结合的方法基础上构造了考慮耦合和剪切效应的十五自由度三角形层合板单元。此单元适用于薄和中厚层合板的强度分析,具有收敛和应用范围广的优点。文中以各向同性和复合材料层合板多组数例证明了该单元的有效性,同时还讨论了跨厚比L/h和弹性模量比E₁/E₂与剪切效应的关系,得出了一些有意义的结论。     

Static,free vibration and thermal analysis of composite plates and shells using a flat triangular shell element

Finite element static, free vibration and thermal analysis of thin laminated plates and shells using a three noded triangular flat shell element is presented. The flat shell element is a combination of the Discrete Kirchhoff Theory (DKT) plate bending element and a membrane element derived from the Linear Strain Triangular (LST) element with a total of 18 degrees of freedom (3 translations and 3 rotations per node). Explicit formulations are used for the membrane, bending and membrane-bending coupling stiffness matrices and the thermal load vector. Due to a strong analogy between the induced strain caused by the thermal field and the strain induced in a structure due to an electric field the present formulation is readily applicable for the analysis of structures excited by surface bonded or embedded piezoelectric actuators. The results are presented for (i) static analysis of (a) simply supported square plates under doubly sinusoidal load and uniformly distributed load (b) simply supported spherical shells under a uniformly distributed load, (ii) free vibration analysis of (a) square cantilever plates, (b) skew cantilever plates and (c) simply supported spherical shells; (iii) Thermal deformation analysis of (a) simply supported square plates, (b) simply supported-clamped square plate and (c) simply supported spherical shells. A numerical example is also presented demonstrating the application of the present formulation to analyse a symmetrically laminated graphite/epoxy laminate excited by a layer of piezoelectric polyvinylidene flouride (PVDF). The results presented are in good agreement with those available in the literature.The work was partly sponsored by a grant (DAAHO4-95-1-0175) from the army research office with Dr. Gary Anderson as the grant monitor.     

An assumed strain triangular curved solid shell element formulation for analysis of plates and shells undergoing finite rotations

A formulation for 36‐DOF assumed strain triangular solid shell element is developed for efficient analysis of plates and shells undergoing finite rotations. Higher order deformation modes described by the bubble function displacements are added to the assumed displacement field. The assumed strain field is carefully selected to alleviate locking effect. The resulting element shows little effect of membrane locking as well as shear locking, hence, it allows modelling of curved shell structures with curved elements. The kinematics of the present formulation is purely vectorial with only three translational degrees of freedom per node. Accordingly, the present element is free of small angle assumptions, and thus it allows large load increments in the geometrically non‐linear analysis. Various numerical examples demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the present formulation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic characterization of the thickness-tapered laminated plant fiber-reinforced polymer composite plates

Evolution of the laminated woven natural fiber fabric-reinforced polymer composite structures makes a way to the development of the non-uniform laminated composite structures in order to achieve the stiffness variation throughout the structure. An attempt is made in this work to carry out the experimental and numerical investigations on the dynamic characteristics of the thickness-tapered laminated woven jute/epoxy and woven aloe/epoxy composite plates. The governing differential equations of motion for the thickness-tapered laminated composite plate are developed using the h-p version FEM based on higher order shear deformation theory. The validation of the present finite element formulation is carried out by comparing the natural frequencies obtained using the finite element formulation with those natural frequencies determined experimentally. The developed model is further validated with the available literature works on tapered composite plate to confirm the efficiency of h-p version FEM. This work also explores the study of the vibrational characteristics of composite plates under the influence of plant fiber’s transverse isotropic material characteristics and porosity associated with plant fiber composites through the elastic constants evaluated in the author’s previous work. Also the influences of aspect ratios, ply orientations, and taper angles under various end conditions on the natural frequencies of the woven jute/epoxy composite plate are studied using the present finite element formulation. The forced vibration response of the thickness-tapered laminated woven jute/epoxy composite plate under the harmonic force excitation is carried out considering CFCF and CFFF end conditions.     

A finite element formulation with stabilization matrix for geometrically non-linear shells

An assumed strain finite element formulation with a stabilization matrix is developed for analysis of geometrically non-linear problems of isotropic and laminated composite shells. The present formulation utilizes the degenerate solid shell concept and assumes an independent strain as well as displacement. The assumed independent strain field is divided into a lower order part and a higher order part. Subsequently, the lower order part is set equal to the displacement-dependent strain evaluated at the lower order integration points and the remaining higher order part leads to a stabilization matrix. The strains and the determinant of the Jacobian matrix are assumed to vary linearly in the thickness direction. This assumption allows analytical integration through thickness, independent of the number of plies. A nine-node element with a judiciously chosen set of higher order assumed strain field is developed. Numerical tests involving isotropic and composite shells undergoing large deflections demonstrate the validity of the present formulation.     

Geometrically non-linear analysis of symmetrically laminated composite and sandwich shells with a higher-order theory and C finite elements

A C⁰ continuous displacement based finite element formulation of a higher order theory for linear and geometrically non-linear analysis which accounts for large displacements in the sense of von Karman of symmetrically laminated composite and sandwich shells under transverse loads is presented. The displacement model accounts for non-linear and constant variation of tangential and transverse displacement components, respectively, through the shell thickness. The assumed displacement model climinates the use of shear correction coefficients. The discrete element chosen is a nine-node quadrilateral element with nine degress of freedom per node. The accuracy of the present formulation is then established by comparing the present results with the available analytical. closed-form two-dimensional solutions, three-dimensional elasticity solutions and other finite element solutions. Some new results are generated for future comparisons to and evaluations of sandwich shells.