article · Thin-Walled Structures
A higher-order quasi-3D kinematic plate theory has been developed to investigate the mechanical behaviour of bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates. Using a variational formulation, three distinct non-conforming finite element models were established to analyse bending, buckling stability, and free vibrations across diverse lamination schemes. The framework accounts for shear deformation effects without suffering from the shear locking phenomenon. Results demonstrate that central deflections, critical buckling loads, and fundamental frequencies depend significantly on the choice of lamination scheme, aspect ratios, orthotropy ratios, and boundary conditions. The investigated bio-inspired orientation schemes offer viable alternatives to traditional configurations, showing potential to overcome shear singularity issues and delamination defects in composite plates.
Traditional laminated composite materials can suffer from internal separation defects known as delamination when subjected to mechanical loads. Bio-inspired helicoidal designs, modelled here with high-precision computational tools, offer alternative structural arrangements that improve resistance to these structural failures, supporting safer and more resilient structural designs.
This research represents early-stage numerical modelling relevant to structural and materials engineers designing advanced composite components. The findings suggest that bio-inspired helicoidal fibre layouts could replace conventional lamination to minimise delamination flaws and shear singularities. Practical deployment would require manufacturing trials and experimental physical testing, placing the technology at an early conceptual stage prior to industrial implementation.
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A comprehensive study is carried out by employing various finite element models (FEMs) for the bending, buckling stability and free vibration analyses of bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates with various lamination schemes. A higher order quasi-3D kinematic plate theory is developed to include a shear deformation effect. The variational formulation of the problem is exploited to derive the equations of motion, element stiffness, geometrical stiffness, and mass matrices based on a non-conforming rectangular element. Three different finite elements models are derived based on non-conforming elements with different number of nodes and degree of freedom. The developed finite element model has been validated with those found in the open literature. The effects of boundary condition, lamination scheme, orthotropy ratio and aspect ratio on the mechanical response of the bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates are examined. Notably, for the lamination schemes investigated in this study, no shear locking phenomenon was observed in the analyses conducted using these FEMs. Dimensionless centre deflections, critical buckling loads and fundamental frequencies of bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates vary depending on the type of lamination scheme, boundary condition and aspect ratio. The new orientation schemes can replace the traditional ones to overcome the shear singularity and overcome the delamination defects.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tws.2024.111735
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