Aeroelastic analyses of functionally graded aluminium composite plates reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets under fluid-structural interaction

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive investigation on functionally graded (FG) graphene reinforced aluminium cantilever rectangular plates under aerodynamic loads. Two-way loosely coupled fluid structure interaction (FSI) is implemented by coupling finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). FEA models are developed using FG graphene nanoplatelets (GPL) reinforced aluminium composite structures with different GPL distribution patterns. Fluid domain is modelled using finite volume method and FSI module is then used to connect FEA with the CFD code. The simulation results of FSI indicate that the maximum stress of the plate can be efficiently reduced with satisfactory aerodynamic performance after aeroelastic tailoring, depending on specific GPL distribution patterns. It is shown that in conjunction with aeroelastic tailoring technique, the composite plate can achieve optimized structural and aerodynamic performance. The present results of the FG graphene reinforced aluminium plates offer useful design guideline for their applications as the structural components in aeronautical fields.