Stress Analysis of a Composite Material Cylindrical Shell Having Surface Crack
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2009-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
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.
Description
Keywords
Composite materials; anisotropic stress-strain relationship; laminate; surface crack; shielding effect; crack simulation; classical shell theory