Stress Analysis of a Composite Material Cylindrical Shell Having Surface Crack

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2009-07

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Abstract

Composite materials are combinations of two or more materials giving a third material with highly desirable properties. A composite material cylindrical shell is one of the components used in weight sensitive areas as composite materials are nowadays commonly used in the aviation industry and marine applications. In many practical applications, using composites is more efficient. For example, in highly competitive airline markets, one is continuously looking for ways to lower overall mass of the aircraft without decreasing the stiffness and strength of its components like cylindrical shells or pressure vessels. This is possible by replacing conventional metal alloys with composite materials. However, surface irregularities and micro cracks can be imparted to such materials for various reasons and it is very important to analyze these materials carefully to hinder the damage that could result as a result of failure In this work the stress and strain distributions around the surface cracked cylindrical shell structure have been presented by studying the properties of composites, anisotropic elasticity relations, stress intensity factors, fracture toughness and stress field equations of surface crack problems in composite material, and finally finite element method simulation is applied to investigate the stress and strain distribution around the surface crack in a composite material cylindrical shell structure. Mathematical modeling and finite element simulation of the surface cracked cylindrical shell was performed and the problem was finally solved using ANSYS finite element method package. In the mean time, results were obtained in the post processing stage of ANSYS. The main results obtained were the variation of the critical stress and strain distributions around the surface crack which could be cold shielded damaged zone that makes composite materials having unpredicted damage zone sizes. Finally, the critical stress and strain distribution patterns, the crack propagation schemes or styles were compared with literatures from composite material shell structures and conventional isotopic materials to draw conclusions regarding the advantages of composites compared to conventional material in crack advancement Key words: Composite materials, anisotropic stress-strain relationship, laminate, surface crack, shielding effect, crack simulation, classical shell theory.

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Composite materials; anisotropic stress-strain relationship; laminate; surface crack; shielding effect; crack simulation; classical shell theory

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