Numerical Analysis of Buckling and Delamination Growth for Stiffened Composite Laminated Plates with Piezoelectric Actuators

Abstract

The buckling and delamination propagation behavior in delaminated piezoelectric stiffened composite plates subjected to combined applied voltage and compressive loading are studied. The cohesive element for the non-linear finite element software ABAQUS is used to simulate the interface of the delamination region in the composite plates. The numerical simulation is conducted by using piezoelectric solid element and conventional shell element. The delamination propagation and the failure of stiffened composite plates are predicted by strength-based and energy-based criteria. The bucking control effect for the different buckling of piezoelectric stiffened composite plates with applied voltage was investigated, and the delamination propagation behavior of stiffened composite plates with piezoelectric actuators was studied. The results obtained by numerical analysis indicate that the appropriate control by piezoelectric actuators can retard local buckling of delaminated sub-laminates and prevent delamination growth effectively.