H. Ghasemnejad

Off-axis Crashworthiness Characteristic of Woven Glass/Epoxy Composite Box Structures

This study investigates the influence of off-axis loading on the fracture mechanism and specific energy absorption (SEA) of glass/epoxy twill/weave composite box structures. In this regard, the off-axis angles of 5°, 10°, 20°, and 30° of loading direction with respect to the composite box axis is studied experimentally under quasi-static crushing process. At the off-axis angle of 5°, the crushing process behavior is similar to that of the axial crushing and fracture mechanisms, such as bundle fracture and interlaminar crack propagation in Mode-II are observed. These are characteristic of brittle fracture crushing mode. For crushing at an off-axis angle of 10°, additional interwall crack propagation at one side of the box is also found. This increases the energy absorbing capability of glass/epoxy composite box at this angle. The sidewall crack is a mixed-mode crack. To characterize this crack, the mixed-mode interlaminar fracture toughness, G I/IIC, is measured using asymmetric double cantilever beam (ADCB) test method. For other angles, the non-symmetrical fracture mechanisms are found at four sides of the composite boxes. The arriving of sustained crushing stage is delayed by increasing the off-axis crushing angle. Owing to this fact, the energy absorbing capability is reduced by increasing the off-axis loading angle. An analytical solution is proposed to predict the mean force of axial crushing in brittle fracture crushing mode. The off-axis crushing process of composite boxes is also simulated by finite element software LS-DYNA and the results are verified with the relevant experimental results.

Experimental and Numerical Buckling Analysis of Delaminated Hybrid Composite Beam Structures

In this paper the effect of delamination position on the critical buckling load and buckling mode of hybrid composite beams is investigated. Experimental and numerical studies are carried out to determine the buckling load of delaminated composite beams. The laminated composite beams with various laminate designs of [G90]6, [C90]8, [C0/G0]4 and [C90/G90]4 were manufactured and tested to find the critical buckling load. Three different defect positions were placed through the thickness to find three main buckling modes. It was found that delamination position and lay-up can affect the buckling mode and also the critical buckling load. By approaching the delamination position to the outer surface of the specimen the buckling load decreases. The buckling process of hybrid and non-hybrid composite beams was also simulated by finite element software ANSYS and the critical buckling loads were verified with the relevant experimental results.

Advanced natural stitched composite materials in skin-stiffener of wind turbine blade structures

In this paper the failure behaviour of natural stitched composite materials in the skin-stiffener of wind turbine blade structures are investigated. For this study, the laminated composite beams were stitched using Flax yarns before curing process. Two stiffener structures of T-beam and Box-beam are studied in this paper. These specimens were tested under quasi-static loading condition to compare the failure resistance of adhesive and stitched bonding methods. Furthermore, the cohesive zone modelling (CZM) which is known as a variation in the cohesive stresses with the interfacial opening displacement along the localised fracture process zone is used to predict bonding failure in the skin-stiffener of wind turbine blade structures.

Mixed-Mode Delamination Failure of Z-Pinned Hybrid Laminated Composites

The mixed-Mode interlaminar fracture toughness, GI/IIC, of z-pinned hybrid laminated composites is studied to investigate the effect of 3D-composites on the crack propagation resistance of delaminated composite structures. In this regard, the mixed-Mode interlaminar fracture toughness, GI/IIC, was measured using asymmetric double cantilever beam (ADCB) test method. The hybrid ADCB and z-pinned hybrid composite beams were laid-up from [G0/C0]4, [G0/C90]4, [G90/C0]4 and [G90/C90]4 to study the effect of z-pinning on the interlaminar fracture toughness. From the obtained results from test it was found that the resistance of z-pin fibres against the crack propagation in z-pinned hybrid composites can significantly increase the mixed-mode interlaminar fracture toughness.

Laminate Tailoring of Composite Tubular Structures to Improve Crashworthiness Design at Off-Axis Loading

This paper presents experimental and numerical investigation on the parameters effecting energy absorption capability of composite tubular structures at oblique loading to improve crashworthiness performance. Various inclined angles of 5°, 10°, 20° and 30° were selected for the study of off-axis loading. The results indicate that by increasing the lateral inclination angle the mean crushing force and also energy absorption capability of all tested sections decreased. From design perspective, it is necessary to investigate the parameters effecting this phenomenon. The off-axis loading effect that causes significant reduction in energy absorption was investigated and the effected parameters were improved to increase energy absorption capability. To establish this study, 10° off-axis loading was chosen to illustrate the obtained improvement in energy absorption capability. Five cases were studied with combinations of ply-orientation and flat trimming with 45° chamfer. This method was applied to the integrated 10° off-axis loading and the final results showed significant improvement in energy absorption capability of composite absorbers. Finite element model (FEM) was developed to simulate the crushing process of axial and off-axis composite section in LS-DYNA and the results were in good agreement with the experimental data.

The post-impact response of flax/UP composite laminates under low velocity impact loading:

Flax fibre-reinforced unsaturated polyester composite laminates were fabricated by vacuum bagging process and their impact and post-impact responses were investigated through experimental testing and finite element simulations. Samples of 60 mm × 60 mm × 6.2 mm were cut from the composite laminates and were subjected to a low-velocity impact loading to near perforation using hemispherical steel impactor at three different energy levels, 25, 27 and 29 Joules. Post-impact was employed to obtain full penetration. The impacted composite plates were modelled with various lay-ups using finite element software LS-DYNA (LS-DYNA User’s Manual 1997) to provide a validated finite element model for the future investigation in the field. The effects of impact and post-impact on the failure mechanisms were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy. Parameters measured were load bearing capability, energy absorption and damage modes. The results indicate that both peak load and the energy absorption were reduced significantly after the post-impact events. Consequently, it was observed from the visual images of the damages sites that the extent of damage increased with increased incident energy and post-impact events.

The response of natural fibre composites to impact damage: a case study

Abstract: This chapter describes an investigation into hybrid laminate lay-up in multi-delaminated and single lap joint composite beams where the Charpy impact test was chosen to measure the energy absorbing capability of the beam. It was shown that beams that are stitched through the thickness are able to arrest crack propagation and consequently absorb more energy in comparison with non-stitched beams. It was also shown that composite beams that were bonded by stitching were able to absorb more energy in comparison with adhesively bonded composite joints in the hybrid composite beams.

Protection of offshore wind turbine blades against extreme conditions

The fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials design technology has become a main factor in structural integrity to design of composite sub-structures in various engineering disciplines. In particular case offshore wind turbine blades are typically manufactured from FRP composites and delamination failure is an important issue in these structures. In extreme conditions, like ice impacting, multiple delaminations with a triangular shape is found in different parts of a composite wind turbine blade, introducing local damage, which can cause catastrophic failure under various loading conditions such as post-impact, fatigue and buckling.

Advanced Finite Element Analysis to Predict Off-Axis Crushing Behaviour of Composite Aero-Structures

Advanced finite element analysis (FEA) is carried out to simulate the off-axis crushing process of glass/epoxy twill/weave composite box structures. The FE results were compared to relevant experimental result and it was shown that the applied model is capable to predict the damage behaviour and energy absorption of composite box aero-structures under off-axis loading condition.

Investigation of Energy Absorption of a GFRP Composite Crash Box

Interlaminar fracture toughness of composite materials plays a key role on the specific energy absorption (SEA) of the crushing of composite materials. In this regard, an optimum composite crash box design is sought by studying the effect of fiber orientation and stacking sequence on the increase of interlaminar fracture toughness. In order to achieve this, various glass fiber/epoxy orientations were studied experimentally. Double cantilever beam and axial crush box specimens were produced and tested in a quasi-static condition to determine the interlaminar fracture toughness and SEA values for each set of fiber orientation and stacking sequence. The effect of stacking sequence on fracture toughness and the SEA of the GFRP composite crash box was quantified and optimum results were obtained.