Thin Walled Composite Protective Structures For Crashworthiness Applications

This book summarizes many of the recent advances in the design and application of thin-walled composite protective structures. The past few decades have seen outstanding advances in the use of composite materials in structural applications. Composites have revolutionized traditional design concepts and made possible an unparalleled range of new and exciting possibilities as viable materials for construction. This book presents an extensive survey on recent improvements in the research and development of composites and biocomposites that are used to make structures in various applications. This book deals with design, research and development studies, experimental investigations, theoretical analysis, and fabrication techniques relevant to the application of composites in load-bearing components for assemblies, ranging from individual components such as plates and shells to complete composite structures. This book also focuses the recent advances in biocomposite materials from renewable resources and introduces a potential application of this material. The content is this book benefits the academics, researchers, scientists, engineers, and students in the field of epoxy blends for application as lightweight advanced composite structures.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION Vehicle crashworthiness has been improving in recent years with attention mainly directed towards reducing the impact of the crash on the passengers. Effort has been spent in experimental research and in establishing safe theoretical design criteria on the mechanics of crumpling, providing to the engineers the ability to design vehicle structures so that the maximum amount of energy will dissipate while the material surrounding the passenger compartment is deformed, thus protecting the people inside. During the last decade the attention given to crashworthiness and crash energy management has been centered on composite structures. The main advantages of fibre reinforced composite materials over more conventional isotropic materials, are the very high specific strengths and specific stiffness which can be achieved. Moreover, with composites, the designer can vary the type of fibre, matrix and fibre orientation to produce composites with proved material properties. Besides the perspective of reduced weight, design flexibility and low fabrication costs, composite materials offer a considerable potential for lightweight energy absorbing structures; these facts attract the attention of the automotive and aircraft industry owing to the increased use of composite materials in various applications, such as frame rails used in the apron construction of a car body and the subfloor of an aircraft, replacing the conventional materials used. Our monograph is intended to provide an introduction to this relatively new topic of structural crashworthiness for professional engineers. It will introduce them to terms and concepts of it and acquaint them with some sources of literature about it. We believe that our survey constitutes a reasonably well-balanced synopsis of the topic.

Nowadays, the growth in structural materials, analytical methods and design tools has greatly promoted the development and applications of thin-walled structures in different fields. Thin-walled structures are broadly utilized in building construction, bridge construction, storage racks, transmission towers, automotive, ships, aircraft, etc. Many factors, including cost and weight economy, new materials and processes and the growth of powerful methods of analysis have contributed to this growth, which concentrates specifically on structures in which problems arise due to the thinness of the walls. This book 'Stability and Vibrations of Thin-Walled Composite Structures' brings together state of the art information on the most recent advances from the global research and development community regarding new theories, experiment, design methods and applications. It reviews on the stability and vibrations of thin walled composite structures such as columns, plates, and stringer stiffened plates and shells to enables both engineers and academics to locate valuable, up-to-date knowledge on buckling and vibrations, be it methodical or tentative, and use it for estimation or evaluation. This book serves as valuable guide for students, researchers and engineering professionals working in structural mechanics, aerospace and composite structures. The book will be of interest to all those working in the field of thin-walled structures. Specifically, advanced graduate students in mechanical and aerospace engineering and applied mathematics as well as practicing engineers will find new and important results in this book.

The third volume of this six-volume compendium provides methodologies and lessons learned for the design, analysis, manufacture, and field support of fiber-reinforced, polymeric-matrix composite structures. It also provides guidance on material and process specifications and procedures for using the data that is presented in Volume 2. The information provided is consistent with the guidance provided in Volume 1, and is an extensive compilation of the current knowledge and experiences of engineers and scientists from industry, government, and academia who are active in composites. The Composite Materials Handbook, referred to by industry groups as CMH-17, is a six-volume engineering reference tool that contains over 1,000 records of the latest test data for polymer matrix, metal matrix, ceramic matrix, and structural sandwich composites. CMH-17 provides information and guidance necessary to design and fabricate end items from composite materials. It includes properties of composite materials that meet specific data requirements as well as guidelines for design, analysis, material selection, manufacturing, quality control, and repair. The primary purpose of the handbook is to standardize engineering methodologies related to testing, data reduction, and reporting of property data for current and emerging composite materials. It is used by engineers worldwide in designing and fabricating products made from composite materials.

Partial Contents: Laterally Compressed Metal Tubes as Impact Energy Absorbers; The Static Approach to Plastic Collapse and Energy Dissipation in Some Thin-walled Steel Structures; Crushing Behaviour of Plate Intersections; Energy Absorption by Structural Collapse; Axial Crushing of Fibre Reinforced Composite Tubes; Impact Scalability of Plated Steel Structures; Static and Dynamic Finite Element Analysis of Structural Crashworthiness in the Automotive and Aerospace Industries; Study of The Crash Behaviour of Aircraft Fuselage Structures; Aircraft Crash Dynamics: Modeling, Verification and Application; Application of the Non-linear Finite Element Computer Program DYCAST to Aircraft Crash Analysis; Structural Aspects of Ship Collisions; Collision Resistance of Marine Structures; Analysis of Framework-type Safety Structures in Road Vehicles; and Rail Vehicle Structural Crashworthiness.

This open access e-proceeding is a compilation of 134 articles presented at the 8th Mechanical Engineering Research Day (MERD'22) - Kampus Teknologi UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia on 13 July 2022.

This book is written to introduce the application of high-performance composite materials such as fiber reinforced polymers, functionally graded composites, and sustainable fiber reinforced composites for development of thin-walled plated structures, beams, girders, and deck structures subjected to different kinds of loads. This book also includes test cases and its validation with finite element method using general purpose commercial computer software. Moreover, the book also deals with design methodology of advanced composite materials based on different applications. The comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art research on the high-performance composite structures dealing with their stability, response, and failure characteristics will be of significant interest to scientists, researchers, students, and engineers working in the thrust area of advanced composite structures. This book is also helpful for Ph.D. candidates for developing their fundamental understanding on high-performance composite structures, and it will also appropriate for master- and undergraduate-level courses on design of composite structures especially for Civil Engineering Infrastructures.