Buckling and postbuckling response of thin-walled composite plates investigated experimentally and determinated analytically and numerically is compared. Real dimension specimens of composite plates weakened by cut-out subjected to uniform compression in laboratory buckling tests have been modelled in the finite element method and examined analytically based on P-w2 and P-w3 methods. All results were obtained during the experimental investigations and the numerical FEM analysis of a thin-walled composite plate made of a carbon-epoxy laminate with a symmetrical eight-layer arrangement of [90/-45/45/0]s. The instrument used for this purpose was a numerical ABAQUS® program.
In the paper, the authors discuss the numerical and experimental modal analysis of the cantilever thin-walled beams made of a carbon-epoxy laminate. Two types of beams were considered: circumferentially asymmetric stiffness (i.e., CAS) and circumferentially uniform stiffness (i.e., CUS) beams. The layer-up configurations of the laminate were chosen to get a vibration mode coupling effect in both analysed cases. The aim of the paper was to perform the numerical and experimental modal analysis of the composite structures, when a flapwise bending with torsion coupling effect or flapwise-chordwise bending coupling effect took place. Firstly, numerical studies by the finite element method was performed. The numerical simulations were carried out by the Lanczos method in the Abaqus software package. The natural frequencies and the corresponding free vibration modes were determined. Next, the experimental modal analyses of the CAS and CUS beams were performed. The test stand was consisted of a special grip, two beams with an adhered holder, the LMS Scadas III system with a modal hammer and an acceleration sensor. Finally, the results of both methods were compared.
The most important task in tests of resistance of aircraft structures to the terorist threats is to determine the vulnerability of thin-walled structures to the blast wave load. For obvious reasons, full-scale experimental investigations are carried out exceptionally. In such cases, numerical simulations are very important. They make it possible to tune model parameters, yielding proper correlation with experimental data. Basing on preliminary numerical analyses - experiment can be planned properly. The paper presents some results of dynamic simulations of finite element (FE) models of a medium-size aircraft fuselage. Modeling of C4 detonation is also discussed. Characteristics of the materials used in FE calculations were obtained experimentally. The paper describes also the investigation of sensitivity of results of an explicit dynamic study to FE model parameters in a typical fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problem (detonation of a C4 explosive charge). Three cases of extent of the Eulerian mesh (the domain which contains air and a charge) were examined. Studies have shown very strong sensitivity of the results to chosen numerical models of materials, formulations of elements, assumed parameters etc. Studies confirm very strong necessity of the correlation of analysis results with experimental data. Without such a correlation, it is difficult to talk about the validation of results obtained from "explicit" codes.