Smart passive adaptive control of laminated composite plates (through optimisation of fibre orientation).

Abstract

In the classical laminate plate theory for composite materials, it is assumed that the laminate is thin compared to its lateral dimensions and straight lines normal to the middle surface remain straight and normal to the surface after deformation. As a result, the induced twist which is due to the transverse shear stresses and strains are neglected. Also, this induced twist was considered as an unwanted displacement and hence was ignored. However, in certain cases this induced twist would not be redundant and can be a useful displacement to control the behaviour of the composite structure passively. In order to use this induced twist, there is a need for a modified model to predict the behaviour of laminated composites. A composite normally consists of two materials; matrix and fibres. Fibres can be embedded in different orientations in composite lay-ups. In this research, laminated composite models subject to transfer shear effect are studied. A semi analytical model based on Newton-Kantorovich-Quadrature Method is proposed. The presented model can estimate the induced twist displacement accurately. Unlike other semi analytical model, the new model is able to solve out of plane loads as well as in plane loads. It is important to mention that the constitutive equations of the composite materials (and as a result the induced twist) are determined by the orientation of fibres in laminae. The orientation of composite fibres can be optimised for specific load cases, such as longitudinal and in-plane loading. However, the methodologies utilised in these studies cannot be used for general analysis such as out of plane loading problems. This research presents a model whereby the thickness of laminated composite plates is minimised (for a desirable twist angle) by optimising the fibre orientations for different load cases. In the proposed model, the effect of transverse shear is considered. Simulated annealing (SA), which is a type of stochastic optimisation method, is used to search for the optimal design. This optimisation algorithm is not based on the starting point and it can escape from the local optimum points. In accordance with the annealing process where temperature decreases gradually, this algorithm converges to the global minimum. In this research, the Tsai-Wu failure criterion for composite laminate is chosen which is operationally simple and readily amenable to computational procedures. In addition, this criterion shows the difference between tensile and compressive strengths, through its linear terms. The numerical results are obtained and compared to the experimental data to validate the methodology. It is shown that there is a good agreement between finite element and experimental results. Also, results of the proposed simulated annealing optimisation model are compared to the outcomes from previous research with specific loading where the validity of the model is investigated.