• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.37-49
• /
• 2020

In this paper, free vibration finite element analysis of axially moving laminated composite beams subjected to axial tension is studied. It is assumed that the beam has a constant axial velocity and is subject to uniform axial tension. The analysis is based on higher-order theories that have been presented by Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). In the CUF technique, the three dimensional (3D) displacement fields are expressed as the approximation of the arbitrary order of the displacement unknowns over the cross-section. This higher-order expansion is considered in equivalent single layer (ESL) model. The governing equations of motion are obtained via Hamilton's principle. Finally, several numerical examples are presented and the effect of the ply-angle, travelling speed and axial tension on the natural frequencies and beam stability are demonstrated.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.95-112
• /
• 2016

This paper presents the free vibration analysis of damaged beams by means of 1D (beam) advanced finite element models. The present 1D formulation stems from the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), and it leads to a Component-Wise (CW) modelling. By means of the CUF, any order 2D and 1D structural models can be developed in a unified and hierarchical manner, and they provide extremely accurate results with very low computational costs. The computational cost reduction in terms of total amount of DOFs ranges from 10 to 100 times less than shell and solid models, respectively. The CW provides a detailed physical description of the real structure since each component can be modelled with its material characteristics, that is, no homogenization techniques are required. Furthermore, although 1D models are exploited, the problem unknown variables can be placed on the physical surfaces of the real 3D model. No artificial surfaces or lines have to be defined to build the structural model. Global and local damages are introduced by decreasing the stiffness properties of the material in the damaged regions. The results show that the proposed 1D models can deal with damaged structures as accurately as a shell or a solid model, but with far lower computational costs. Furthermore, it is shown how the presence of damages can lead to shell-like modal shapes and torsional/bending coupling.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.363-383
• /
• 2018

One-dimensional (1D) models of incompressible flows, can be of interest for many applications in which fast resolution times are demanded, such as fluid-structure interaction of flows in compliant pipes and hemodynamics. This work proposes a higher-order 1D theory for the flow-field analysis of incompressible, laminar, and viscous fluids in rigid pipes. This methodology is developed in the domain of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), which was first employed in structural mechanics. In the framework of 1D modelling, CUF allows to express the primary variables (i.e., velocity and pressure fields in the case of incompressible flows) as arbitrary expansions of the generalized unknowns, which are functions of the 1D computational domain coordinate. As a consequence, the governing equations can be expressed in terms of fundamental nuclei, which are invariant of the theory approximation order. Several numerical examples are considered for validating this novel methodology, including simple Poiseuille flows in circular pipes and more complex velocity/pressure profiles of Stokes fluids into non-conventional computational domains. The attention is mainly focused on the use of hierarchical McLaurin polynomials as well as piece-wise nonlocal Lagrange expansions of the generalized unknowns across the pipe section. The preliminary results show the great advantages in terms of computational costs of the proposed method. Furthermore, they provide enough confidence for future extensions to more complex fluid-dynamics problems and fluid-structure interaction analysis.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-14
• /
• 2016

The Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) is here extended to perform free-vibrational analyses of rotating structures. CUF is a hierarchical formulation, which enables one to obtain refined structural theories by writing the unknown displacement variables using generic functions of the cross-section coordinates (x, z). In this work, Taylor-like expansions are used. The increase of the theory order leads to three-dimensional solutions while, the classical beam models can be obtained as particular cases of the linear theory. The Finite Element technique is used to solve the weak form of the three-dimensional differential equations of motion in terms of "fundamental nuclei", whose forms do not depend on the adopted approximation. Including both gyroscopic and stiffening contributions, structures rotating about either transversal or longitudinal axis can be considered. In particular, the dynamic characteristics of thin-walled cylinders and composite blades are investigated to predict the frequency variations with the rotational speed. The results reveal that the present one-dimensional approach combines a significant accuracy with a very low computational cost compared with 2D and 3D solutions. The advantages are especially evident when deformable and composite structures are analyzed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.517-546
• /
• 2014

This paper proposes a refined electro-mechanical beam formulation. Lagrange-type polynomials are used to interpolate the unknowns over the beam cross section. Three- (L3), four- (L4), and nine-point(L9) polynomials are considered which lead to linear, bi-linear, and quadratic displacement field approximations over the beam cross-section. Finite elements are obtained by employing the principle of virtual displacements in conjunction with the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). The finite element matrices and vectors are expressed in terms of fundamental nuclei whose forms do not depend on the assumptions made. Additional refined beam models are implemented by introducing further discretizations, over the beam cross-section. Some assessments from bibliography have been solved in order to validate the electro-mechanical formulation. The investigations conducted show that the present formulation is able to detect the electro-mechanical interaction.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.310-323
• /
• 2013

In this paper, the aeroelastic static response of flexible wings with arbitrary cross-section geometry via a coupled CUF-XFLR5 approach is presented. Refined structural one-dimensional (1D) models, with a variable order of expansion for the displacement field, are developed on the basis of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), taking into account cross-sectional deformability. A three-dimensional (3D) Panel Method is employed for the aerodynamic analysis, providing more accuracy with respect to the Vortex Lattice Method (VLM). A straight wing with an airfoil cross-section is modeled as a clamped beam, by means of the finite element method (FEM). Numerical results present the variation of wing aerodynamic parameters, and the equilibrium aeroelastic response is evaluated in terms of displacements and in-plane cross-section deformation. Aeroelastic coupled analyses are based on an iterative procedure, as well as a linear coupling approach for different free stream velocities. A convergent trend of displacements and aerodynamic coefficients is achieved as the structural model accuracy increases. Comparisons with 3D finite element solutions prove that an accurate description of the in-plane cross-section deformation is provided by the proposed 1D CUF model, through a significant reduction in computational cost.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.121-133
• /
• 2022

An analytical approach for the free vibration behavior of a sandwich cylindrical shell with a functionally graded (FG) core is presented. It is considered that the FG distribution is in the direction of thickness. The material properties are temperature-dependent. The sandwich cylindrical shell with a FG core is considered with two cases. In the first model, i.e., Ceramic-FGM-Metal (CFM), the interior layer of the cylindrical shell is rich metal while the exterior layer is rich ceramic and the FG material is located between two layers and for the second model i.e., Metal-FGM-Ceramic (MFC), the material distribution is in reverse order. This study develops Carrera's Unified Formulation (CUF) to analyze sandwich cylindrical shell with an FG core for the first time. Considering the Principle of Virtual Displacements (PVDs) according to the CUF, the dependent boundary conditions and governing equations are obtained. The coupled governing equations are derived using Galerkin's method. In order to validate the present results, comparisons are made with the available solutions in the previous researches. The effects of different geometrical and material parameters on the free vibration behavior of a sandwich cylindrical shell with an FG core are examined.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.301-318
• /
• 2022

This paper presents the free vibration analysis of 3D printed sandwich beams by using high-order theories based on the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). In particular, the component-wise (CW) approach is adopted to achieve a high fidelity model of the printed part. The present model has been used to build an accurate database for collecting first natural frequency of the beams, then predicting Young's modulus based on an inverse problem formulation. The database is built from a set of randomly generated material properties of various values of modulus of elasticity. The inverse problem then allows finding the elastic modulus of the input parameters starting from the information on the required set of the output achieved experimentally. The natural frequencies evaluated during the experimental test acquired using a Digital Image Correlation method have been compared with the results obtained by the means of CUF-CW model. The results obtained from the free-vibration analysis of the FDM beams, performed by higher-order one-dimensional models contained in CUF, are compared with ABAQUS results both first five natural frequency and degree of freedoms. The results have shown that the proposed 1D approach can provide 3D accuracy, in terms of free vibration analysis of FDM printed sandwich beams with a significant reduction in the computational costs.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
• /
• v.1 no.3
• /
• pp.291-310
• /
• 2014

An advanced model for the linear flutter analysis is introduced in this paper. Higher-order beam structural models are developed by using the Carrera Unified Formulation, which allows for the straightforward implementation of arbitrarily rich displacement fields without the need of a-priori kinematic assumptions. The strong form of the principle of virtual displacements is used to obtain the equations of motion and the natural boundary conditions for beams in free vibration. An exact dynamic stiffness matrix is then developed by relating the amplitudes of harmonically varying loads to those of the responses. The resulting dynamic stiffness matrix is used with particular reference to the Wittrick-Williams algorithm to carry out free vibration analyses. According to the doublet lattice method, the natural mode shapes are subsequently used as generalized motions for the generation of the unsteady aerodynamic generalized forces. Finally, the g-method is used to conduct flutter analyses of both isotropic and laminated composite lifting surfaces. The obtained results perfectly match those from 1D and 2D finite elements and those from experimental analyses. It can be stated that refined beam models are compulsory to deal with the flutter analysis of wing models whereas classical and lower-order models (up to the second-order) are not able to detect those flutter conditions that are characterized by bending-torsion couplings.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.48 no.9
• /
• pp.671-680
• /
• 2020

This paper describes an improved beam analysis for compound rotorcraft fuselage design. The present beam approach is capable of analyzing fuselage composed of stiffeners using equivalent layer methodology. Thickness of the skin and laminated layer approach are suggested based on the unified beam formulation. The analysis which considers an equivalent stiffener layer is performed for a fuselage with stiffeners and preliminary study about the specification of stiffeners is conducted and compared by the results using the existing software.