Structural analysis of composite tubes considering imperfections and manufacturing peculiarities

What is it about?

Geometric imperfections are inherent to any manufactured component and may cause structural prediction discrepancies as large as 50%. Numerical predictions of structural instability are a critical design aspect for structures with high sensitivity to imperfections. A numerical prediction that considers these imperfections allows a more realistic simulation in the design stage. In our work an numerical-experimental approach to predict structural instability was developed to analyze thin composite tubes produced by filament winding manufacturing process. The divergence between mechanical properties characterized through standardized procedures and those of the manufactured component, influenced by imperfections and manufacturing peculiarities, was considered. Based on numerical and experimental results correlation, the implemented approach was considered effective.

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Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

Why is it important?

With the proposed approach, when compared with the conventional structural analysis, was observed a difference in mechanical properties reaching 22%, and that the difference between results considering geometrical imperfections was around 20%. Moreover, the synergy between actual mechanical properties and geometrical imperfections over the structural response was evidencied. Our work shows that the numerical-experimental approach developed, considering the relevant factors involved in a structural instability prediction, achieves accurate results in a relatively practical way.

Perspectives