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Applied Composite Materials: An International Journal for the Science and Application of Composite Materials (v.10, #2)
On the Collapse of Cotton/Epoxy Tubes under Axial Static Loading by E. Mahdi; A. M. S. Hamouda; B. B. Sahari; Y. A. Khalid (pp. 67-84).
Experimental quasi-static crushing tests and finite element analysis have been carried out for unidirectional filament wound laminated cotton/epoxy tubes. The work focuses on three main factors, which considerably affect the axial collapse load of unidirectional natural composite tubes. These factors are structural geometry, fibre diameter and fibre orientation. Cotton/epoxy tubes with different diameters (50, 70, 90, 110 and 130 mm) were examined and tested. The fibre orientation angles were 80 and 90°. The initial geometric imperfections are measured using the computerised Mistral coordinate measuring machine. The numerical prediction was obtained using commercially available finite element software. A limited agreement between the experimental and computational results was obtained. For all structures considered classical axial collapse eigenvalues were computed. The initial failure crush load computed from the finite element simulation model has been compared with the experiments.
Keywords: cotton/epoxy; energy absorption; crashworthiness; crush force efficiency; finite element simulation
Load Testing of an FRP Bridge Deck on a Truss Bridge by Sreenivas Alampalli; Jonathan Kunin (pp. 85-102).
New York State has constructed a fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bridge deck as an experimental project. The goal of the project was to improve the load rating of a 50-yr old truss bridge located in Wellsburg, New York. The FRP deck weighs approximately 80-percent less than the deteriorated concrete bridge deck it replaced. Reducing the dead load increased the allowable live load capacity of the bridge without significant repair work to the existing superstructure, thus lengthening its service life. Load testing was conducted after installation of the FRP deck to study the conservativeness of the design, ascertain the assumptions made on composite action between the deck and the superstructure, and examine the effectiveness of joints in load transfer. This report describes the testing and discusses the results. The results indicate that the design was conservative. The design assumed no composite action between the deck and the superstructure, and the experimental data confirms that assumption. The study also shows that the joints are only partially-effective in load transfer between panels. Peak strains under the test loads were only a very small fraction of the ultimate strength of the FRP deck.
Keywords: bridge decks; load testing; FRP bridge decks; bridge rehabilitation; deck replacement; truss bridges
FE Stress Analysis of Thick Composite Laminates with a Hole in Bending by Şemsettin Temiz; Adnan Özel; Murat Demir Aydin (pp. 103-117).
In this work, the stress analysis of isotropic and ortotropic laminae both with a hole and without a hole and laminated both with a hole and without a hole composite plates have been examined using the finite element method. In order to solve the problem, a computer program has been written by using characteristics of eight-node isoparametric plane element. The calculations have been tested on various composite and steel materials by this program. The results have been shown in diagrams and tables and compared with literature. It was observed that the stress distributions in the plate with a hole was totally different from the plate without a hole. The analyses have showed that, the elastic stresses have been gradually reduced as moving from the first layer to the second.
Keywords: laminated composite materials; stress analysis; finite element method; bending
Analysis of Transversal Permeability for Different Types of Glass Fiber Reinforcement by I. Crivelli Visconti; A. Langella; M. Durante (pp. 119-127).
In some of the new processes to produce elements in composite materials, the innovation is due to the fact that the resin flow is perpendicular to the plane of the reinforcement during the impregnation.So a very important parameter is the transversal permeability of the reinforcing materials used in these processes. In fact for a high value of this parameter it is possible to increase the product quality and to reduce the process time.In this work, using Darcy's law and a particular permeameter, the transversal permeability of preforms constituted by fabric and mat layers of fiber glass has been valued for different injection pressures. In particular, the permeability of two types of preform, consisting respectively of only mat layers and of only fabric layers, have been determined by tests and calculated by Kozeny–Carman equation. The research has been also focalised on the evaluation of the permeability of preforms constituted by a mix of the two different types of reinforcement. Furthermore an analytical model has been studied to calculate the permeability of preforms consisting of layers of different reinforcement types, starting from the permeability data characterizing the single reinforcement type and determined by the tests or by Kozeny–Carman equation.
Keywords: permeability; transversal permeability; infusion; resin transfer moulding