• Carbon letters
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• v.19
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• pp.23-31
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• 2016

Carbon rich fly ash was recently reported to have compositions that are ideal for use as a precursor and catalyst for carbon nanotube growth. This fly ash powder is mostly composed of pure carbon, predominantly present as sp². In this work, the effect of sonication time on the morphology and structural properties of carbon rich fly ash particles is reported. The obtained results show that ultrasound treatment is an effective tool for producing ultrafine particles/fragments with higher porosity, which might be suitable for the adsorption of gasses. Moreover, carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) of this fly ash were produced in parallel using the ball milling technique, and were evaluated as reinforcements for epoxy based composites. These CNPs have almost spherical shapes with particle sizes of around 30 nm. They were found to have strong C=O carbonyl group bonds, which might be generated during the ball milling process. The tensile testing results of a fly ash CNP reinforced epoxy composite showed significant improvements in the mechanical properties, mainly in the stiffness of the polymer. The stiffness value was increased by around 23% of that of neat epoxy. These CNPs with chemically active groups might also be useful for other applications.

• Composites Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

This paper presents the results of an analytical investigation pertaining to the elastic local buckling behavior of asymmetric edge stiffened orthotropic open section structural member under uniform compression. The asymmetric edge stiffener is considered as a beam element neglecting its torsional rigidity. We suggested the analytical model of asymmetric edge stiffeners which is composed of a strip of flange plate, equal width of edge stiffener, and a plate attached at the flange end, and computed the moment of inertia of the stiffener about an axis through the centroid of the ensuing cross-section. Using the derived equation, the local buckling coefficients of asymmetrically edge stiffened orhtotropic I-section columns are predicted and the results are presented in a graphical form.

• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2004

In order to evaluate the strength of carbody structures of railway rolling stock made of laminated fiber-reinforced composite materials, total laminate approach was introduced. Structural analyses were conducted to check the basic design of hybrid composite carbody structures of the Korean Tilting Train eXpress(TTX) with the service speed of 180km/h. The mechanical tests were also conducted to obtain strengths of composite laminates. The results show that all stress components of composite carbody structures are inside of failure envelopes and total laminate approach is recommended to predict the failure of hybrid composite carbody structures at the stage of the basic design.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.46-50
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• 2011

This paper describes the state of the art for the development of metallic armor materials which are mainly used as armor plates of the combat vehicles. Several important micro-structural features affecting ballistic properties of the metallic armor are discussed. Optimization of the strength and toughness balance of the metallic armor is necessary for the improvement of the ballistic performance resulting from maximizing the resistance to the penetration of the bullet and also to brittle failure of the plates. Understanding and control of the adiabatic shearing phenomenon developed remarkably during high strain rate deformation is needed to prevent brittle failure of the metallic armor materials.

• Composites Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.18-29
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• 2002

The bending vibration and thermal flutter instability of spacecraft booms modeled as circular thin-walled beams of closed cross-section and subjected to thermal radiation loading is investigated in this paper. The thin-walled beam model incorporates a number of nonclassical effects of transverse shear, primary and secondary warping, rotary inertia and anisotropy of constituent materials. Thermally induced vibration response characteristics of a composite thin walled beam exhibiting the circumferantially uniform system(CUS) configuration are exploited in connection with the structural flapwise bending-lagwise bending coupling resulting from directional properties of fiber reinforced composite materials and from ply stacking sequence. The numerical simulations display deflection time-history as a function of the ply-angle of fibers of the composite materials, damping factor, incident angle of solar heat flux, as well as the boundary of the thermal flutter instability domain. The adaptive control are provided by a system of piezoelectric devices whose sensing and actuating functions are combined and that are bonded or embedded into the host structure.

• Composites Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.30-37
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• 2005

In this paper, geometrically non-linear finite element analyses were performed to study the mechanical behavior of the material system of the envelope of stratospheric airships. The microstructure of the load-bearing plain weave layer was identified and modeled. The Updated Lagrangian formulation was employed to consider the geometric non-linearity as well as the induced structural non-linearity for the fiber tows. The stress-strain behavior was predicted and the effective elastic modulus was calculated by numerical experiments. It was found the non-linear stress-strain curves were largely different from those by linear analysis. And non-linear elastic moduli were much higher than linear elastic moduli. The difference was more distinguishable when the tow waviness ratio was smaller.

• Composites Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.33-41
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• 1999

In this paper, a simple but accurate method of vibration analysis of structural elements with or without attached mass/masses is presented. The method used has been developed by D.H., Kim since 1974. This method is very effective for the plates with arbitrary conditions and irregular sections. This method is applied to the special orthotropic plate with two opposite edges simply supported and the other two opposite edges free. Such plate represents the most of the simply supported bridges/decks, including concrete and girders-cross beam systems. Detailed illustration is given for beams and plates for easy understanding. Some laminate orientation for which the special orthotropic equations can be applied are identified.

• Composites Research
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.9-15
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• 2001

In the present work, a linear static analysis is presented for thin-walled prismatic box-beams made of generally anisotropic materials. A mixed beam theory has been used to model and carry out the analysis. Several different constitutive assumptions for the shell-wall of the beam section are assessed into the beam formulation. Simple layup cases of box-beams representing bending-torsion or extension-torsion coupled configuration have been considered and tested to clearly show the effects of elastic couplings of the beam. A detailed finite element structural analysis using the MSC/NASTRAN has been carried out to validate the current analytical results. Numerical results show that appropriate assumptions for the constitutive relations are important and crucial for the accurate prediction of beam stiffness constants and also thor the beam behavior.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.123-136
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• 2015

The proposed techniques to repair concrete members such as steel plates, fiber-reinforced polymers or concrete have important deficiencies in adherence and durability. The use of ultra high performance fiber concrete (UHPFC) can overtake effectively these problems. In this paper, the possibility of using UHPFC to strengthen reinforced concrete beams under torsion is investigated. Seven specimens of concrete beams reinforced with longitudinal and transverse reinforcements. One of these beams consider as control specimen while the others was strengthened by UHPFC on four, three, and two sides. This study includes experimental results of all beams with different types of configurations and thickness of UHPFC. As well as, finite element analysis was conducted in tandem with experimental test. Results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed technique at cracking and ultimate torque for different beam strengthening configurations, torque - twist graphs and crack patterns. The UHPFC can generally be used as an effective external torsional reinforcement for RC beams. It was noted that the behavior of the beams strengthen with UHPFC are better than the control beams. This increase was proportional to the retrofitted beam sides. The use of UHPFC had effect in delaying the growth of crack formation. The finite element analysis is reasonably agreement with the experimental data.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.39-51
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• 2013

An extremum method is presented to predict the wrinkling characteristics of the inflated cone in bending. The wrinkling factor is firstly defined so as to obtain the wrinkling condition. The initial wrinkling location is then determined by searching the maximum of the wrinkling factor. The critical wrinkling load is finally obtained by determining the ratio of the wrinkling moment versus the initial wrinkling location. The extremum method is proposed based on the assumption of membrane material of beam wall, and it is extended to consider beam wall with thin-shell material in the end. The nondimensional analyses show that the initial wrinkling location is closely related to the taper ratio. When the taper ratio is higher than the critical value, the initial wrinkles will be initiated at a different location. The nondimensional critical wrinkling load nonlinearly increases as the taper ratio increases firstly, and then linearly increases after the critical taper ratio. The critical taper ratio reflects the highest load-carrying efficiency of the inflated cone in bending, and it can be regarded as a measure to optimize the geometry of the inflated cone. The comparative analysis shows fairly good agreement between analytical and numerical results. Over the whole range of the comparison, the mean differences are lower than 3%. This gives confidence to use extremum method for bending-wrinkling analysis of inflated conical cantilever beam.