Numerical investigation on the nonlinear flexural behaviour of wrapped glass/epoxy laminated composite panel and experimental validation

Abstract

In this work, the geometrically nonlinear deflection responses of glass/epoxy composite flat/curved shell panel structure have been analysed theoretically with the help of three different displacement field kinematics and Green–Lagrange strain–displacement relation. In this analysis, the numerical models are developed based on two higher-order shear deformation mid-plane kinematics and one simulation model with the help of commercial finite element package (ANSYS). The present mathematical model is general in the sense that it includes all the nonlinear higher-order terms arising due to Green–Lagrange strain–displacement relation to capture the exact flexural strength of the laminated structure. The present nonlinear model is so generic that it can be easily extended for solving different kinds of geometrical configurations (spherical, cylindrical, elliptical, hyperboloid and plate). The equilibrium equation of the transversely loaded panel is achieved by minimizing total potential energy expression and discretized using the suitable finite element steps. The required deflection values are computed numerically via a homemade MATLAB code in conjunction with Picard’s iterative method. Consequently, the stability of the present numerical solutions has been established through the convergence test and validated by comparing the results with those available published results. In addition, the transverse deflections are obtained experimentally via three-point bend test and utilized for the comparison purpose to demonstrate the significance of the newly developed higher-order finite element model.