An analytical formulation of unidirectional composite curved beam with out-of-plane fiber waviness under bending

Abstract

A closed-form analytical solution is developed for analyzing laminated composite curved beam with out-of-plane fiber waviness under bending. Timoshenko beam theory was adopted in derivation where the effects of shear deformation was considered for moderately thick beam. Explicit expressions for evaluating equivalent axial and bending stiffness are formulated based upon the modified lamination theory and taking the structural deformation characteristics of narrow section beam into consideration. Stress distribution at any given location calculated by the proposed method is investigated. Significant increase of radial normal stress and shear stresses are observed when out-of-plane fiber waviness is introduced. The comparisons between present analytical results and numerical data indicate that the present methodology have ability to capture radial normal, circumferential normal, and shear stress distributions of composite curved beam with out-of-plane fiber waviness and the level of stress predicted is satisfactory with numerical results.