Sajad Alimirzaei

This study investigates the mechanical behavior and damage mechanisms of thin-walled glass/epoxy filament wound tubes under quasi-static lateral loads. The novelty is that the tubes are reinforced in critical areas using strip composite patches to provide a topology-optimized tube, and their damage mechanisms and mechanical performance are compared to that of un-reinforced (reference) tubes. To detect the types of damage mechanisms and their progression, the Acoustic Emission (AE) method is employed, accompanied by data clustering analysis. The loading conditions are simulated using the finite element method, and the results are validated through experimental testing. The findings confirm that the inclusion of reinforcing patches improves the stress distribution, leading to enhanced load carrying capacity, stiffness, and energy absorption. Compared to the reference tubes, the reinforced tubes exhibit a remarkable increase of 23.25% in the load carrying capacity, 33.46% in the tube’s stiffness, and 23.67% in energy absorption. The analysis of the AE results reveals that both the reference and reinforced tubes experience damage mechanisms such as matrix cracking, fiber-matrix debonding, delamination, and fiber fracture. However, after matrix cracking, delamination becomes dominant in the reinforced tubes, while fiber failure prevails in the reference tubes. Moreover, by combining the AE energy and mechanical energy using the Sentry function, it is observed that the reinforced tubes exhibit a lower rate of damage propagation, indicating superior resistance to damage propagation compared to the reference tubes.

By analyzing the failure mechanisms, crashworthiness characteristics of FW composite tubes subjected to two modes of progressive damage and catastrophic failure are investigated using acoustic emission technique and numerical method. The AE signals of ±45° composite tubes were classified using hierarchical and wavelet transform methods, and based on the realistic and three-dimensional geometrical architecture of tubular structures, the microstructural finite element model was developed using Catia and ABAQUS software. Then deformation patterns and the impression of each mechanism on the crashworthiness characteristics were assessed. Results indicated that fiber breakage and fiber/matrix debonding could likely control the higher percentage of damage. By changing the type of modes from progressive damage to catastrophic failure, the percentage of matrix cracking increases, the fiber/matrix separation decreases, and the failure behavior become dominated by local buckling. Comparing the FE simulation with experimental results, we found the proposed 3D model can reasonably predict the pre-crushing, post-crushing, and material densification.

The focus of this study is to investigate the mechanical properties, of ±35° and ±55° filament wound (FW) composite tubes under axial compression loading using the acoustic emission technique. For this purpose, material failure, crashworthiness characteristics, and the effect of each mechanism on the energy absorption capacity were studied using numerical and experimental approaches. Also, to identify and estimate the contribution percentage of damage mechanisms as well as how the damage grows in the specimens, the analysis of acoustic emission signals recorded during loading was performed. Digital image correlation was additionally used to capture displacement/strain contour maps. Finally, to analyze the effect of the winding pattern in the experimental test, the tubes were simulated using finite element analysis (FEA). For modeling of damage mechanisms, a 3D continuum damage model was used. The results of signal processing showed that by increasing the weaving angle of fibers from ±35° to ±55°, the separation of fibers from the matrix decreases, and the percentage of matrix crushing and fiber failure increases. The assessment of damage percentages showed that the reason for the large drop in force at ±55° compared to ±35° is the increase in matrix crushing. Furthermore, the failure behavior of FW tubes appeared to be dominated by local buckling, and the FEA effectively predicted the linear behavior and maximum load value of the composite tubes.

The nonlinear thermal buckling analysis of functionally graded (FG) beam integrated with shape memory alloy (SMA) layer(s), with different lay-up configurations and supported on a nonlinear elastic foundation, has been investigated. The FG layer is graded through the beam thickness direction and thermomechanical properties are assumed to be temperature dependent. The Brinson one-dimensional constitutive law are used to model the characteristics of SMA. The von Kármán strain–displacement fields with the Timoshenko beam theory are applied to the Hamilton’s principle to derive the set of nonlinear equilibrium equations. Generalized differential quadrature method along with direct iterative scheme is utilized to discretize and solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations. The accuracy of proposed model is compared and validated with previous research in literature. The detailed parametric study has been performed to investigate the influence of geometrical, material, and some other key parameters on the nonlinear thermal buckling solutions. The results show that selecting the proper lay-up is of great importance because the type of SMA/FG lay-up can considerably affect the nonlinear buckling solutions. Moreover, adequate application of SMA layers in a proper lay-up configuration significantly postpones the thermal buckling temperature of the beam.