Graduation Semester and Year

2018

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Andrey Beyle

Abstract

Improvement to an existing design is an ongoing and never-ending process in every field. The improvement can be in a myriad of areas like an increase in strength, reduction in weight, stiffness to a loading condition and so on. The way it is achieved can range from changing the properties of the material used by incorporating various manufacturing processes or by using an alternative material which can sustain the same loading conditions or for that matter, work better than the existing material. Composite materials like Carbon Fiber, Glass Fiber or Kevlar Fiber reinforced plastics, to name few, are being used to achieve the latter. Carbon Fiber/Epoxy can come remarkably close or even go beyond the strength and stiffness of Steel with strategically placed ply angles to resist various loading conditions. Besides strength and stiffness, an important factor to consider for Carbon Fibers is its low mass. Thus, having a higher strength or stiffness to mass ratio as compared to Steel cross-sections of identical dimension and loading conditions. This is beneficial in case of buildings because it reduces the dead load of the entire structure by a significant margin. Glass fiber reinforced plastics are stronger but less stiff than steel. An increase of wall thickness gives an opportunity to come close to effective stiffness of the steel structure but, with lower mass and much higher fracture load, use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic looks more attractive mechanically, but the cost of structures is much higher. This study focuses on performing buckling, bending and torsional analysis on square and rectangular hollow cross-sections of varying dimensions resulting in Carbon composite being beneficial in lieu of Steel (A992) as beams and columns.

Keywords

Finite element analysis, Structural application, Composites, Beams, Columns

Disciplines

Aerospace Engineering | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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