Application of scaled boundary finite element method for three-dimensional modeling of bi-axial bending in thick laminated composite plates

Abstract

SBFEM is used for three-dimensional modeling of thick laminated composite plates, where plate theories fail to provide the accurate results. SBFEM is a semi-analytical tool and have various advantages over finite element method. It allows for a coarse mesh and refinement over the boundaries only. This improves the computational efficiency by minimizing the number of nodes. Two different meshing structures are considered, and a comparison has been made in terms of various attributes for computational cost such as memory requirements, computational time, and solver complexity. Various numerical examples are considered to assess the suitability of SBFEM for the purpose.

Keywords:

• Scaled boundary finite element method
• SBFEM
• laminated composites
• 3D modeling
• plate bending
• bi-axial bending

Additional information

Funding

This project was conducted within the ARC Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (IC160100040), supported by the Commonwealth of Australia under the Australian Research Council’s Industrial Transformation Research Program. The authors would also like to acknowledge funding support provided by the Defence Science and Technology Group.