Paper number 1062
DESIGN OF SANDWICH STRUCTURES WITH CURVATURE |
Vincent Manet1, Woo-Suck Han1 and Alain Vautrin1
1Materials and Mechanical Engineering Department
École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne, 158, cours Fauriel, 42023 Saint-Étienne cedex 2, France
E-mail: {manet,han,vautrin}@emse.fr
Summary | In this paper, we present a simple and efficient post-processing method in finite element computations for the analysis of sandwich structures. This method is based on Reissner's functional which is applied locally at interfaces between layers those mechanical properties are very different. The method, valid in 2D as well as in 3D, is assessed in 2D for the computation of an U-type sandwich beam for which both the ratio of Young's modulus of the skin to that of the core and the radius of curvature vary. This example points out that the present method can be used for the design of complex structures based on finite element analysis owing to its numerical stability, i.e. its results remain accurate even using coarse meshes. |
Keywords | curved beams, finite element method, interlaminar stresses, post-processing method, sandwich structures. |