Evaluation of smeared properties approaches and mechanics of structure genome for analyzing composite beams

ABSTRACT

Composite beams could have complex cross sections composed of many layers with different materials and layup angles. The anisotropic and heterogeneous features render three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis (FEA) with layer details computationally expensive. Smeared properties approaches are commonly used in analyzing such structures. Mechanics of structure genome (MSG) can provide an efficient yet accurate alterative. Several composite beams are studied to evaluate the smeared properties approaches and MSG. In comparison to the detailed 3D FEA, smeared properties approaches are observed to be inaccurate for some global behaviors and most pointwise stress distributions, whereas MSG achieves similar accuracy as 3D FEA for both global behaviors and local stress distributions.

KEYWORDS:

• Smeared properties
• Mechanics of structure genome
• Composite beams
• Stress analysis

Acknowledgment

The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsement, either expressed or implied, of the funding agency.

Funding

This research was supported, in part, by the Army Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence at Georgia Institute of Technology and its affiliate program through subcontract at Purdue University.