Search results for "Structural engineering"
showing 10 items of 1998 documents
Optimization of the first wall for the DEMO water cooled lithium lead blanket
2015
The maximum heat load capacity of a DEMO First Wall (FW) of reasonable cost may impact the decision of the implementation of limiters in DEMO. An estimate of the engineering limit of the FW heat load capacity is an essential input for this decision. This paper describes the work performed to optimize the FW of the Water Cooled Lithium-Lead (WCLL) blanket concept for DEMO fusion reactor in order to increase its maximum heat load capacity. The optimization is based on the use of water at typical Pressurised Water Reactors conditions as coolant. The present WCLL FW with a waved plasma-faced surface and with circular channels was studied and the heat load limit has been predicted with FEM analy…
Out-of-plane elastic constants of curved cell walls honeycombs
2021
International audience; The work describes the out-of-plane properties of a curved wall honeycomb structure evaluated using analytical models and finite elements techniques. Out-of-plane properties are calculated using a theoretical approach based on energy theorems and validated using a fullscale<br>finite element technique to simulate transverse shear tests. The effects of the curvature of the walls and the depth of the honeycomb cells on the out-of-plane elastic constants are evaluated and excellent agreement is observed between theoretical and numerical models. These curved cell wall honeycombs feature specific (i.e., relative density weighted) highly tailorable upper shear bounds tha…
Application of cohesive-zone models to delamination behaviour of composite material
2012
International audience; The parameters of cohesive elements have to be chosen correctly in the simulation of composite delamination by finite element method: such as interface strength, interface stiffness and shape of cohesive law. The purpose of this work is to investigate their influence on the accuracy of the results obtained. A three-dimensional cohesive-zone model has been established using Ls-dyna to simulate Double-Cantilever-Beam mode I (DCB) and Edge-Notched-Flexure mode II (ENF) tests. The influence of these parameters of cohesive element on the maximum load and the slope of load-displacement curve have been discussed by comparing experimental and numerical results. Four traction…
Free energy and states of fractional-order hereditariness
2014
AbstractComplex materials, often encountered in recent engineering and material sciences applications, show no complete separations between solid and fluid phases. This aspect is reflected in the continuous relaxation time spectra recorded in cyclic load tests. As a consequence the material free energy cannot be defined in a unique manner yielding a significative lack of knowledge of the maximum recoverable work that can extracted from the material. The non-uniqueness of the free energy function is removed in the paper for power-laws relaxation/creep function by using a recently proposed mechanical analogue to fractional-order hereditariness.
Flying Laser Spot Thermography technique for the NDE of Fibre Metal Laminates disbonds
2017
Abstract The present work investigates the features of an active Infrared-NDT Thermography technique derived from a Flying Laser Spot set-up for the analysis of interlaminar disbonds in layered structures in general and Fibre Metal Laminates in particular. The presented technique uses a laser-spot heat source, which moves at a constant speed, raster scanning the object surface. Interlaminar defects parallel to the surfaces act as barriers towards through-the-thickness heat diffusion. This produces some modifications over the surface thermal field which are well identified in the Standard Deviation calculated over a Reference Area following the heat source. The mechanisms leading to such def…
The interphase model applied to the analysis of masonry structures
2014
Abstract Masonry material presents a mechanical response strongly dependent on the static and kinematic phenomena occurring in the constituents and at their joints. At the mesoscopic level the interaction between the units is simulated by means of specific mechanical devices such as the zero thickness interface model where the contact tractions and the displacement discontinuities are the primary static and kinematic variables respectively. In many cases the joint response depends also on internal stresses and strains within the interface layer adjacent to the joint interfaces. The introduction of internal stresses and strains leads to the formulation of the interphase model, a sort of enha…
Experimental and numerical study of composite T-joints for marine application
2010
Abstract The aim of this work was to study the behaviour of composite T-joints used in marine applications. The effect of several parameters was investigated. In particular, three configurations were studied; i.e. with adhesive and with two different over-laminations. Moreover, the joined sections were made of different materials. These joints were subjected to a tensile load in the plane of the sheet. To quantify the effect of different designs on the strength, a variance analysis was performed. Finally, a numerical model was developed using a commercial finite element code (Ansys).
A high-resolution layer-wise discontinuous Galerkin formulation for multilayered composite plates
2020
Abstract In this work, a novel high-resolution formulation for multilayered composite plates is presented. The formulations is referred to as high-resolution since it combines (i) Layer-Wise plate theories, which are based on a per-layer, high-order expansion of the primary variables throughout the plate’s thickness, providing a detailed layer-level description of the sought solution; (ii) The discontinuous Galerkin method, a numerical approach based on a discontinuous representation of the unknown fields over the mesh elements and on the introduction of boundary integral operators enforcing inter-element continuity, which allow the natural treatment of high-order mesh elements and provide …
A non-linear Ritz method for the analysis of low velocity impact induced dynamics in variable angle tow composite laminates
2021
Abstract Variable angle tow (VAT) laminates feature composite layers reinforced by fibres following continuous curved paths and offer a wide structural design space for the manufacturing of composite components. In this work, a formulation for the analysis of the impact-induced dynamics in VAT laminated plates is proposed, implemented and tested in this work. The method is based on the adoption of first order shear deformation kinematics and includes von Karman non-linear strains. The discrete system is obtained by employing a pb-2 Ritz series expansion into the Hamilton’s variational statement, while the impact loading is modelled through Hertzian contact law. The resulting non-linear gove…
Evaluation of building heating loads with dimensional analysis: Application of the Buckingham π theorem
2017
Abstract A detailed assessment of building energy performance requires a large amount of input data concerning building typology, environmental conditions, envelope thermophysical properties, geometry, control strategies, and several other parameters. Notwithstanding, the use of specialized software tools poses many challenges in regards to the retrieval of reliable and detailed information, setting a steep learning curve for engineers and energy managers. To speed up the preliminary assessment phase, it might be more convenient to resort to a simplified model that allows the evaluation of heating energy demand with a good level of accuracy and without excessive computational cost or user e…