Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The use of Carbon Nanotubes as the reinforcing constituent for polymer matrix composites in place of conventional fibers has led to the emergence of a new generation of advanced composite materials. In this paper, the free vibration of functionally graded nanocomposite beams on elastic foundations are studied. Three different types of Carbon Nanotubes distributions in the polymer matrix material are studied; Uniform distribution, symmetrically functionally graded distribution and unsymmetrically functionally graded distribution. The analysis is carried out by a mesh-free method using the two-dimensional theory of elasticity. The Moving Least Square shape functions are implemented to approximate the displacement field. Due to the absence of the Kronecker delta property of the shape functions, a transformation technique is used to apply the essential boundary conditions. After validation, the effects of different design parameters such as Carbon Nanotubes distribution, slenderness ratios, boundary conditions and foundation stiffness on the vibrational behavior of the structure are investigated. It can be seen that from a design perspective, the vibrational response of a FG structure may be controlled in two ways; one way is through changing the distribution of the CNT’s in the matrix material and the other way is by changing stiffness of the elastic foundation on which it is resting. A notable observation is that increasing the stiffness of the foundation will move the neutral axis away from the foundation support of the beam. The current approach can serve as a benchmark against which other semi-analytical and numerical methods based on classical beam theories can be compared.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This work reports a numerical investigation on the distortional buckling/post-buckling behaviors, ultimate strength and Direct Strength Method (DSM) design of cold-formed steel S-beams, commonly used in industrial rack systems. The analyzed beams are single-span, under uniform bending, exhibiting two different end support conditions and 5 cross-sections dimensions. The post-buckling equilibrium paths and ultimate moments are obtained from shell finite element non-linear analysis through the software ANSYS. The reported results evidenced that current codified DSM distortional curve is unable to provide safely strength predictions for the selected beams.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This paper focuses on analysis in determining the behaviour of variable amplitude strain signals based on extraction of segments. The constant Amplitude loading (CAL), that was used in the laboratory tests, was designed according to the variable amplitude loading (VAL) from Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The SAE strain signal was then edited to obtain those segments that cause fatigue damage to components. The segments were then sorted according to their amplitude and were used as a reference in the design of the CAL loading for the laboratory tests. The strain signals that were obtained from the laboratory tests were then analysed using fatigue life prediction approach and statistics, i.e. Weibull distribution analysis. Based on the plots of the Probability Density Function (PDF), Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) and the probability of failure in the Weibull distribution analysis, it was shown that more than 70% failure occurred when the number of cycles approached 1.0 x 1011. Therefore, the Weibull distribution analysis can be used as an alternative to predict the failure probability.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Bolted structures are widely utilized in industrial structures and equipment due to the numerous advantages they possess. However, the use of bolts in these structures by itself can cause considerable flaws or damages. One of the major reasons of flaw in such structures is looseness. Since the looseness is initiated with a reduction in the axial force, measurement and estimation of this force can contribute to a healthy performance of the structure. The methods used to measure axial force of bolts are divided into two: those which measure or estimate the force directly and those which, by controlling physical parameters, do this indirectly. Ba- sed on this categorization, this paper examines over 16 methods used for evaluation of axial force of bolted structures, and presents their theoretical bases, drawbacks and advantages, with the litera- ture on each method being discussed separately. Finally, the methods are compared and the most important criteria in selecting the methods are introduced.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract An assessment of the efficiency and convergence characteristics of a four-node quadrilateral plate finite element in the analysis of laminated composites is performed. The element, which is suitable for global response analysis, is developed in the framework of the strain gradient notation such that its modeling capabilities as well as modeling deficiencies can be physically interpreted by the analyst during the formulation process. Thus, shear locking typically encountered in four-noded plate elements is identified as caused by spurious terms which appear in the shear strain polynomial expansions. These identified spurious terms are removed a priori such that shear locking does not occur during numerical analysis and numerical remedies do not need to be applied. Stress solutions for different laminated plates are presented to demonstrate that the corrected model converges well to reference solutions.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Increase of energy absorption along with smooth load displacement curve, reduced peak force and high mean crushing force is the key in the modern dynamic design of structures. In this regard, a new metallic tubular configuration consisting of uni-sectional bi-tubular inner tubes, with outer tubes of multiple varied cross-sections is proposed and crushed under axial dynamic loading. A number of configurations are proposed ranging from simple to complex polygonal sections defined in three groups. Deformation modes and energy absorption characteristics such as peak crushing force, mean crushing force, and specific energy absorption are determined and discussed for each configuration. The proposed arrangement shows a stable crushing and higher values of crush force efficiency. In order to select the most suitable configuration, on the basis of maximum specific energy absorption, peak crushing force and minimum peak force, a robust decision making method known as Complex Proportional Assessment (COPRAS) is implemented. The optimal configuration in each group is determined on the basis of higher values of specific energy absorption, crush force efficiency and a lower value of peak crushing force, using the chosen weighting factors in COPRAS implementation. Finally, the configuration with inner and outer hexagonal tubes is found to be the best possible design concept among the top members of each group, with peak crushing force, mean crushing force and crush force efficiency values of 69.8 KN, 7.3 KJ and 0.75, respectively.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract There are typically three broad categories of structural optimization namely size, shape and topology. Over the past few decades various researchers have focused on developing techniques for optimizing structures by considering either one or a combination of these aspects. In this paper the efficiency of these techniques are investigated in an effort to quantify the improvement of the result obtained by utilizing a more complex optimization routine. The percentage of the structural weight saved and computational effort required are used as measures to compare these techniques. The well-known genetic algorithm with elitism is used to perform these tests on various benchmark structures found in literature. Some of the results that are obtained include that a simultaneous approach produces, on average, a 22 % better solution than a simple size optimization and a 12 % improvement when compared to a staged approach where the size, shape and topology of the structure is considered sequentially. From these results, it is concluded that a significant saving can be made by using a more complex optimization routine, such as a simultaneous approach.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract A three-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analysis (FEA) is carried out to estimate the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) crack initiation life for varied slip range on the rail arising from operational variations. The wheel load produces Hertzian contact pressure. Variation in engine traction induces slip variations that evolves thermal load in terms of heat flux. The aperiodic rolling of wheel on rail develops non-proportional multiaxial fatigue loading. Present study combines these effects by translating the wheel load on rail for multiple (twelve) pass in presence of thermal load, contact pressure and traction through a proposed simulation. The temperature dependent Chaboche material model with nonlinear kinematic hardening law is implemented to estimate the stresses and plastic strains governing the multiaxial fatigue condition at the interface. The location of maximum von Mises stress, found at a material point on or a layer below the rail-head, contemplates the fatigue crack initiation site. A coded search algorithm helps to identify the critical plane of crack initiation corresponding to the maximum fatigue parameter (FP). In contrast to available predictions of RCF life considering contact pressure and/or traction or frictional heat in isolation, present study combines all these loads together and provides a more realistic result by numerical simulation.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract In this paper, a new higher-order layerwise finite element model, developed earlier by the present authors for the static analysis of laminated composite and sandwich plates, is extended to study the free vibration behavior of multilayer sandwich plates. In the present layerwise model, a first-order displacement field is assumed for the face sheets, whereas a higher-order displacement field is assumed for the core. Thanks for enforcing the continuity of the interlaminar displacement, the number of variables is independent of the number of layers. In order to reduce the computation effort, a simply four-noded C0 continuous isoparametric element is developed based on the proposed model. In order to study the free vibration, a consistent mass matrix is adopted in the present formulation. Several examples of laminated composite and sandwich plate with different material combinations, aspect ratios, boundary conditions, number of layers, geometry and ply orientations are considered for the analysis. The performance and reliability of the proposed formulation are demonstrated by comparing the author’s results with those obtained using the three-dimensional elasticity theory, analytical solutions and other advanced finite element models. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that the proposed finite element model is simple and accurate in solving the free vibration problems of laminated composite and sandwich plates.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract In the present paper, an improved high-order theory is employed to study the free vibration of rotating truncated sandwich conical shells with laminated face sheets and a soft core. The formulation is based on a three-layer sandwich model. First-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is used for face sheets and quadratic and cubic functions are assumed for transverse and in-plane displacements of the core, respectively. The governing equations of motion are derived according to the Hamilton’s principle. Also, continuity conditions of the displacements at the interfaces, as well as transverse flexibility, transverse normal strain and stress of the core have been considered. Analytical solution for free vibration of simply supported sandwich conical shells is presented using Galerkin’s method. Effect of some geometrical parameters is also studied on the fundamental frequency of the sandwich shells. Comparison of the present results with those in the literature confirms the accuracy of the proposed theory.