Thermal Stress analysis of unidirectional composite material by FEM modeling

Author

Gopal D. Gulwani

Graduation Semester and Year

2016

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Andrey Beyle

Abstract

Micromechanics of composite is study of complex mechanism of stress and strain transfer between fiber and matrix within a composite as well as distributions of physical fields inside heterogeneous medium. It was used successfully in predicting accurately physical properties like effective stiffness, effective linear thermal expansion of heterogeneous materials like composite. However, when it comes to strength characteristics of composite especially in transversal direction it failed to predict more accurate results. This thesis is focused on thermally induced stress analysis of unidirectional composite by finite element method. Thermal stresses which are dangerously ignored factor in mechanics of composite usually occur due to difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between matrix and fiber within a composite. The distinction between other studies and this thesis is single cell is considered in most of the studies. But, this study not only focus on single cell but also takes into account effect of neighboring cells on the stress analysis of that cell. The results from the study is then compared with analytical models for single cell also for infinitely big regular array of inclusions in matrix. This study is useful in finding more accurate strength characteristics compared to studies done in the past. .

Keywords

Micromechanics, Finite element analysis, Composites, Thermal stress

Disciplines

Aerospace Engineering | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Recommended Citation

Gulwani, Gopal D., "Thermal Stress analysis of unidirectional composite material by FEM modeling" (2016). Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses. 998.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/mechaerospace_theses/998