Ritz Formulation Research Articles

Acoustic radiation characteristics of shark skin inspired surface modified plates

This paper aims to evaluate the acoustic radiation characteristics of thin plates featuring a layer of small-scale biomimetic shark skin type additive surface treatment. The shark skin dermal denticles are modelled as point masses arranged in a bi-directional pattern on both the upper and lower surfaces of the plate. The governing equations are obtained through a variational approach, incorporating the Dirac Delta function in the derivation of the proposed semi-analytical model for the shark skin layer. A semi-analytical method based on the Rayleigh–Ritz formulation is utilized to analyze the vibrations of these plates with surface modification. The sound radiation characteristics are then derived from the solution of the Rayleigh integral. A comprehensive investigation is performed on the influence of surface modification on different vibro-acoustic characteristics, using a continuous structural mode and power transfer matrix-based approach. Notable observations include a reduction in peak vibro-acoustic responses with dense denticle arrangements, especially at resonance, demonstrating a direct relationship with mass ratios, i.e., the ratio of denticle mass to plate mass. The study further reveals a shift of vibro-acoustic responses towards low frequencies with an increase in mass ratios. A thorough comparative study indicates that while additive surface modifications inspired by shark skin may weaken sound radiation characteristics at resonance frequencies, a reverse effect can be observed at intermittent operational frequencies.

Deriving Ritz formulation for the Static Flexural Solutions of Sinusoidal Shear Deformable Beams

This paper presents the Ritz variational method for the static bending analysis of sinusoidal shear deformable beams. The theory accounts for transverse shear deformation and satisfies transverse shear stress-free conditions at the top and bottom surfaces of the beam. The total potential energy functional for the thick beam bending problem is formulated and minimized using a Ritz procedure. The problem considered simply supported boundary conditions and two cases of loading – uniformly distributed load over the span and point load at the center. The function is a function of two unknown displacement functions constructed in terms of unknown generalized displacement parameters and shape functions that satisfy the boundary conditions. Ritz minimization of the functional is used to find the generalized displacement parameters and then the displacements w(x) and The displacements and stresses are found for the loading distributions considered. It is found that the results obtained agree remarkably well with the exact results obtained using the theory of elasticity. The differences between the present results and the exact solutions are less than 0.3% for maximum transverse displacement for both cases of loading considered. For uniform load over the beam, the result for l/t = 10 is 0.112% greater than the exact solution. For the point load at the center, the result for l/t = 10 is 4.468% greater than the exact solution. The increased difference in the point load case is due to the singular nature of the point load problem.

Investigations on the dynamic snap-through of MFC bonded self-resetting bistable laminates

Unsymmetric composite laminates having two stable equilibrium configurations have been studied extensively in the recent past due to their potential applications in morphing structures. Surface bonded Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) actuators have been considered as a viable solution to trigger the snap-through transition in bistable laminates. Although MFC bonded bistable laminates are widely used in morphing applications, they might require considerably high voltage inputs to achieve the required levels of actuation control during the shape transition. As a solution, other possible energy sources can be combined with active MFC patches to reduce the snap-through energy required from the single source of MFC actuation. In this work, we examine the dynamic behavior of bistable composite plates actuated using MFC actuators, where external vibration energy has been used to assist with the MFC-controlled actuation between stable states. A refined semi-analytical model based on the Rayleigh–Ritz formulation has been proposed, where the membrane energy and the bending energy are separately evaluated. Bending components are directly evaluated using the approximated transverse displacement functions, whereas the membrane components are evaluated separately by combining compatibility conditions and equilibrium equations. Results from the proposed semi-analytical framework are compared with a full geometrically nonlinear finite element framework and necessary experimental observations. The results show a significant reduction in the snap-through energy demand on MFC layers where external dynamic excitation assists the snap-through process. Additionally, a parametric study is performed using variable stiffness (VS) fiber orientation parameters, achieving bistable laminate-MFC configurations that lower snap-through requirements through the proposed morphing strategy. Thus, the study offers to aid a multi-efficient snap-through strategy for the morphing of multistable composite structures.

An adaptive Ritz formulation for progressive damage modelling in variable angle tow composite plates

In this work, an adaptive Ritz model for the analysis of variable angle tow composite plates featuring damage initiation and evolution under progressive loading is proposed, developed, implemented and tested. The plate kinematics is represented employing a first-order shear deformation theory, while the plate equilibrium equations at a given load step are obtained by minimizing the structure potential energy. The constitutive behaviour is modelled within the framework of continuum damage mechanics. In particular the initiation and evolution of damage, up to failure, are tracked by defining irreversible damage indices related to both fibres and matrix, both in tensile or compression loading. The discrete equations are then obtained by assuming a polynomial Ritz approximation of the primary kinematic variables in the energy minimization. Preliminary tests show how the application of the method as a single-domain approach induces the emergence of problematic spurious effects, related to Gibbs artefacts due to the inability of the selected polynomial basis to represent damage localization. An adaptive multi-domain technique is thus proposed to circumvent such issues, which has been successfully validated by benchmark tests. Eventually, original results about variable angle tow plates featuring damage evolution under progressive loading are presented.

Deep Ritz method with adaptive quadrature for linear elasticity

In this paper, we study the deep Ritz method for solving the linear elasticity equation from a numerical analysis perspective. A modified Ritz formulation using the H1/2(ΓD) norm is introduced and analyzed for linear elasticity equation in order to deal with the (essential) Dirichlet boundary condition. We show that the resulting deep Ritz method provides the best approximation among the set of deep neural network (DNN) functions with respect to the “energy” norm. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the total error of the deep Ritz simulation is bounded by the sum of the network approximation error and the numerical integration error, disregarding the algebraic error. To effectively control the numerical integration error, we propose an adaptive quadrature-based numerical integration technique with a residual-based local error indicator. This approach enables efficient approximation of the modified energy functional. Through numerical experiments involving smooth and singular problems, as well as problems with stress concentration, we validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed deep Ritz method with adaptive quadrature.

Buckling and post-buckling of variable stiffness plates with cutouts by a single-domain Ritz method

Structural components with variable stiffness can provide better performances with respect to classical ones and offer an enlarged design space for their optimization. They are attractive candidates for advanced lightweight structural applications whose functionalities often impose the presence of cutouts that requires accurate and effective analysis for their design. In the present work, a single-domain Ritz formulation is proposed, implemented and validated for the analysis of buckling and post-buckling behaviour of variable stiffness plates with cutouts. The plate model is based on the first-order shear deformation theory with nonlinear von Karman strain–displacement relationships. The plate generalized displacements are approximated with trial functions built as products of one-dimensional Legendre orthogonal polynomials. The non linear governing equations system is then deduced from the stationarity of the energy functional; the involved matrices are numerically computed by a special integration algorithm based on the implicit description of the cutout via suitable level-set functions. The formulation has been implemented in a computer code which has been used to validate the method through comparison with literature solutions for variable angle tow laminates with circular cutouts. Several investigations on buckling and post-buckling behaviour of variable angle tow composite plates with cutouts having different shapes and dimensions are then presented to illustrate the approach capabilities, provide benchmark results and point out features and design opportunities of the variable stiffness concept for the buckling and post-buckling design of advanced lightweight structures.

A non-linear Ritz method for progressive failure analysis of variable angle tow composite laminates

A Ritz formulation for non-linear analysis of damage initiation and evolution in variable angle tow composite plates under progressive loading is presented. The model is built on a few key items. It assumes first order shear deformation theory kinematics and non-liner strains in the von Kármán sense. The constitutive relationships are formulated in the framework of continuum damage mechanics at the ply level, so that each laminate layer can experience in-plane damage initiation and evolution, then reflected in material softening and loss of local stiffness. A Ritz polynomial expansion of the primary variables and the minimization of the total potential energy provide the discrete solution equations, which are then solved with an incremental-iterative approach for capturing damage evolution. A few tests have been successfully performed to validate the approach. Eventually, some original results about variable angle tow plates under progressive in-plane compression loads highlight the effect of damage on the post-buckling response.

Global buckling and wrinkling of variable angle tow composite sandwich plates by a modified extended high-order sandwich plate theory

The advanced Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) manufacturing technologies make the synthesis of Variable Angle Tow (VAT) composites, which enable the design of lightweight sandwich structures to possess variable stiffness facesheets. However, both global and local instability phenomena of VAT sandwich plates under in-plane compressive loads are rarely explored till now. The objective of this article is to fill this gap by developing a Rayleigh–Ritz procedure based on a modified extended high-order sandwich plate theory (EHSAPT). The original two-dimensional EHSAPT proposed by Phan et al. (2012) is extended to a three-dimensional case with a minor modification that the first-order shear deformation theory instead of the classical Kirchhoff–Love hypothesis is adopted for each facesheet, which brings several merits such as the conciseness in derivation process and the easiness in program implementation. The Rayleigh–Ritz approach combined with the principle of minimum potential energy is employed to derive the eigenvalue equation that governs the instability problem of VAT sandwich plates under in-plane compressive loads. Both global buckling and wrinkling patterns of VAT sandwich plates can be captured under this proposed analytical model framework. Before instability analysis, the nonuniform prebuckling stresses over the entire sandwich plate are determined under the assumption of membrane prebuckling state. The usage of Lagrange multiplier method in the prebuckling regime removes the restrictions inherent in conventional Rayleigh–Ritz formulation and thus provides a general way to model in-plane boundary conditions. The accuracy and effectiveness of the developed Rayleigh–Ritz procedure are validated by comparing with previously published results and FE solutions given by ABAQUS. Effects of core thickness, core orthotropy, and fibre orientation angle of the facesheets on the instability behaviour of VAT sandwich plates are investigated. Finally, the mechanism of steering the fibre trajectory over the facesheets to improve the buckling resistance for the sandwich plate is studied and discussed.

Free Vibration Analysis of Graphene Platelets Reinforced Laminated Piezoelectric Cylindrical Micro-shells Using the Chebyshev–Ritz Formulation

Free Vibration Analysis of Graphene Platelets Reinforced Laminated Piezoelectric Cylindrical Micro-shells Using the Chebyshev–Ritz Formulation

Free vibrations analysis of cracked variable stiffness composite plates by the eXtended Ritz method

Variable stiffness composite laminates show advantageous structural features related to their enlarged design space. They are attractive candidates for advanced engineering applications where the assessment of static and dynamic behavior and strength in the presence of cracks is often required. In the present work, a single-domain extended Ritz formulation is proposed to study the free vibrations of cracked variable stiffness composite plates. The plate model is based on the first-order shear deformation theory whose primary variable, i.e. displacements and rotations, are approximated via a set of orthogonal polynomial trial functions enriched with a set of special crack functions. These functions are able to inherently account for crack opening and crack tip singular fields. The plate governing equations are deduced by the stationarity of the energy functional and the formulation has been implemented in a computer code. The method has been validated by comparing the present results with literature solutions for cracked isotropic plates and uncracked variable stiffness plates as, to the best of author’s knowledge, no data on cracked variable stiffness plates free vibrations are available. An explicative and representative study on the free vibrations of variable angle tow composite laminates is finally presented with the aim of illustrating the approach capabilities, providing benchmarck results and identifying distinctive features and opportunities of the variable stiffness concept for the design of advanced damage tolerant structures.

Improved approach for the panel buckling calculation of stiffened shell structures with torsional stiff stringer

Primary structures of aerospace applications are often constructed as stringer frame stiffened shell structures because of their high load carrying capacity. Recent research activities on the design of such shells have shown that the design is a demanding task due to the mostly interdependent design variables. Furthermore, the calculation of panel instability is only possible with numerical simulation software demanding high computational costs. Recently, an efficient approach was developed with promising results. This work is taken up to be analysed in more detail. Study structures with differentiating stiffnesses are defined. Findings show high deviations in the prediction of panel instability for increasing axial stiffness of the shell. The reason is found to be the insufficient consideration of prebuckling deformations resulting from the reduced structural model. Improvements to the method are suggested: The reduced structural model is changed and the formerly Ritz formulation is converted into a finite element formulation. One panel of the shell is discretized by the derived one dimensional element. The influence of skin buckling on the structural behaviour is taken into account. An adapted smeared stiffener theory is used in an iterative calculation routine. Geometrically non-linear verification computations are conducted using commercial finite element simulation software. The suggested adjustments lead to a capturing of the size effect and a significant improvement of the method. Excellent results for the prediction of panel instability with reasonable error margins are delivered.

Nonlinear analytical modelling of flat and hyperbolic paraboloidal panels under shear

The hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) form has been widely used in long-span roof structures and is the subject of much research under out-of-plane loading. However, the behaviour of hypars under in-plane loading has been less keenly studied, and there is no suitable guidance for their design in current codes of practice. A nonlinear analytical model treating the hypar as a deliberate imperfection applied to a flat plate is presented. A Rayleigh–Ritz formulation using appropriate shape functions is developed and the resulting equations are solved using numerical continuation techniques. The results are verified with nonlinear finite-element models, showing good correlation across a range of thicknesses and degrees of initial curvature. Key modal contributions that influence the behaviour of the hypar are identified, providing insight into the nonlinear behaviour of hypars subject to in-plane shear. The main differences in behaviour between the flat plate and the hypar panel are shown to be most prevalent in the early stages of loading, where the influence of the initial geometry is at its greatest.

Thermal postbuckling analysis of variable angle tow composite cylindrical panels

The advanced Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technologies allow the fiber trajectories to be curvilinearly steered over the panel platform, which brings out a novel type of cylindrical panel structure, termed as Variable Angle Tow (VAT) composite cylindrical panel. So far, the thermal postbuckling problem of VAT composite cylindrical panels under temperature loadings remain unexplored. The aim of this article is to cover this lack by developing a methodology based on a generalized Rayleigh–Ritz formulation in the framework of the principle of thermoelastic complementary energy. The proposed panel model is based on Donnell’s shallow shell theory and accounts for von Kármán’s geometrical nonlinearity. With the aid of the Lagrange multiplier method and the introduction of Airy’s stress function, a mixed variational formula that governs the nonlinear thermoelastic problem of VAT composite cylindrical panels is derived from the principle of thermoelastic potential energy. The Rayleigh-Ritz formulation combined with the mixed variational formula is then applied to derive the simultaneous nonlinear thermoelastic equations, and the Crisfield’s arc-length method, which can cope well with snap-through or snap-back problems, is employed to trace the equilibrium path that characterizes the thermal postbuckling features. Two different modeling strategies, namely, semi-inverse method and Lagrangian multiplier method, are adopted to formulate the nonlinear thermoelastic problem of VAT composite cylindrical panels undergoing temperature change. The application of Lagrangian multiplier method overcomes some limitations inherent in semi-inverse method in terms of constructing Rayleigh-Ritz formulation, and thus provides generality to model general in-plane boundary constraint. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed Rayleigh-Ritz model are validated against finite element solutions and previously published results. Effects of geometric imperfection, curvature radius, aspect ratio and fiber orientation angle on thermal postbuckling responses of VAT cylindrical plates are discussed by several examples. The study presented here may be helpful for the preliminary design of VAT curved panels in thermal environments.

Investigation of buckling characteristics of cracked variable stiffness composite plates by an eXtended Ritz approach

Variable Angle Tow (VAT) composite plates are characterized by in-plane variable stiffness properties, which opens to new concepts of stiffness tailoring and optimization to achieve higher structural performance for advanced lightweight structures where damage tolerance consideration are often mandatory. In this paper, a single-domain eXtended Ritz formulation is proposed to study the buckling behaviour of variable stiffness laminated cracked plates. The plate behaviour is described by the first order shear deformation theory whose generalized displacements, namely reference plane translations and rotations, are expressed via suitable admissible trial functions. These consist of a set of regular terms, built using orthogonal polynomials, augmented with special functions able to describe the crack opening and the singular behaviour at the crack tips; boundary functions are used to ensure the required homogeneous essential boundary conditions. Governing equations are inferred via the stationarity of the energy functional an solved to carry out an extensive study on the buckling behaviour of variable angle tow homogeneous and layered composite plates. The results obtained for homogeneous plates evidence that the crack presence strongly influences the buckling behaviour depending on its length and inclination and plate boundary conditions with a meaningful variability with respect to the fibre paths configuration, which can arrange for better performances with respect to the straight fibre case. Also for cracked laminates the results show that there are several fibre path able to provide higher buckling loads and higher overall axial stiffness with respect to the straight fibre case. In the framework of damage tolerant engineering applications, this allows to select fibre paths that guarantee predefined design levels of buckling load and axial stiffness even in presence of cracks. Finally, this study highlights the potential of the proposed approach for the analysis of the buckling behaviour of cracked composite variable stiffness plates, which provides an efficient analysis tool for the damage tolerant design and optimization of advanced variable stiffness structures.

Enhancement of a New Methodology Based on the Impulse Excitation Technique for the Nondestructive Determination of Local Material Properties in Composite Laminates

A new approach for the nondestructive determination of the elastic properties of composite laminates is presented. The approach represents an improvement of a recently published experimental methodology based on the Impulse Excitation Technique, which allows nondestructively assessing local elastic properties of composite laminates by isolating a region of interest through a proper clamping system. Different measures of the first resonant frequency are obtained by rotating the clamping system with respect to the material orientation. Here, in order to increase the robustness of the inverse problem, which determines the elastic properties from the measured resonant frequencies, information related to the modal shape is retained by considering the effect of an additional concentrated mass on the first resonant frequency. According to the modal shape and the position of the mass, different values of the first resonant frequency are obtained. Here, two positions of the additional mass, i.e., two values of the resonant frequency in addition to the unloaded frequency value, are considered for each material orientation. A Rayleigh–Ritz formulation based on higher order theory is adopted to compute the first resonant frequency of the clamped plate with concentrated mass. The elastic properties are finally determined through an optimization problem that minimizes the discrepancy on the frequency reference values. The proposed approach is validated on several materials taken from the literature. Finally, advantages and possible limitations are discussed.

1D-Hierarchical Ritz and 2D-GDQ Formulations for the free vibration analysis of circular/elliptical cylindrical shells and beam structures

The present paper proposes a comparison between two different computational techniques to evaluate the natural frequencies of some selected structural components. More specifically, three case studies are investigated: i) Isotropic circular and elliptical cylindrical shells; ii) Non-homogeneous circular cylindrical shell sectors; iii) Homogeneous and non-homogeneous rectangular beams. The 1D-Hierarchical Ritz Formulation (HRF) with 3D capabilities and the 2D-Generalized Differential Quadrature (GDQ) formulation (both in a weak- and a strong-form) are assessed by using a Finite Element Method (FEM) software. For both computational methodologies the Method of Power Series Expansion of the Displacement Components (MPSEDCs) has been employed. A parametric investigation is performed to study the sensitivity of the natural frequencies to some significant parameters, namely, the boundary conditions, the length-to-thickness ratio, as well as some material and geometrical properties. The main advantages of the proposed solution techniques are discussed in terms of convergence and accuracy, for each selected case study.

A Modified Couple Stress Elasticity for Non-Uniform Composite Laminated Beams Based on the Ritz Formulation.

Due to the large application of tapered beams in smart devices, such as scanning tunneling microscopes (STM), nano/micro electromechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS), atomic force microscopes (AFM), as well as in military aircraft applications, this study deals with the vibration behavior of laminated composite non-uniform nanobeams subjected to different boundary conditions. The micro-structural size-dependent free vibration response of composite laminated Euler–Bernoulli beams is here analyzed based on a modified couple stress elasticity, which accounts for the presence of a length scale parameter. The governing equations and boundary conditions of the problem are developed using the Hamilton’s principle, and solved by means of the Rayleigh–Ritz method. The accuracy and stability of the proposed formulation is checked through a convergence and comparative study with respect to the available literature. A large parametric study is conducted to investigate the effect of the length-scale parameter, non-uniformity parameter, size dimension and boundary conditions on the natural frequencies of laminated composite tapered beams, as useful for design and optimization purposes of small-scale devices, due to their structural tailoring capabilities, damage tolerance, and their potential for creating reduction in weight.

A beam formulation with 3D capabilities for the free vibration analysis of thin-walled metallic and composite structures

Abstract The present article proposes an advanced Ritz formulation with 3D capabilities for the analysis of thin-walled metallic and composite beam structures. Various set of admissible functions such as: Legendre, Chebyshev and algebraic polynomials, as well as hybrid functions are employed. The investigation is carried out by using the method of power series expansion of displacement components based on 2D-Taylor polynomials. The governing equations (GEs) are derived in their weak form via Hamilton's Principle and are solved by using the Ritz method. Convergence and stability of both cross-section and admissible functions have been thoroughly analysed. The high level of accuracy of the proposed formulation has been comprehensively examined in three selected case studies: (i) slender beams with arbitrary boundary conditions, and both solid and thin-walled cross-sections; (ii) a fully-clamped three-layer non-homogenous circular cylindrical shell; (iii) a fully-clamped functionally graded material (FGM) box resting on two-parameter elastic foundation.

Buckling and post-buckling analysis of cracked stiffened panels via an X-Ritz method

A multi-domain eXtended Ritz formulation, called X-Ritz, for the analysis of buckling and post-buckling of stiffened panels with cracks is presented. The theoretical framework is based on the First-order Shear Deformation Theory and accounts for von Kármán's geometric nonlinearities. The structure is modeled as assembly of plate elements. Penalty techniques are used to fulfill the continuity condition along the edges of contiguous elements and to satisfy essential boundary conditions requirements. The use of an extended set of approximating functions allows to model through-the-thickness cracks and to capture the crack opening and tip singular fields as well as the structural behavior within each single domain. Numerical results for buckling and post-buckling of cracked stiffened panels are compared with finite elements simulations and literature solutions, showing the accuracy and potential of the proposed approach.

Nonlinear rapid heating of shallow arches

The analysis of large amplitude thermally induced vibrations of a shallow curved beam is considered in this article. The beam is made from an isotropic homogeneous material. One surface of the arch is subjected to rapid surface heating while the other surface is kept at reference temperature. The temperature profile is evaluated by means of the 1D heat conduction equation across the thickness of the beam. The thermally induced moments and forces are evaluated from the temperature profile. These resultants are inserted into the equations of motion of the arch. To establish the equations of motion, kinematic assumptions of a shallow arch with considerations of the von Kármán type of geometrical nonlinearity, Euler–Bernoulli beam assumptions, and linear stress–strain–temperature law are employed. The equations of motion are discreted using the conventional polynomial Ritz formulation. The resulting equations are nonlinear and at each time step the Newton–Raphson technique is used to obtain the solution. The equations of motion of the arch are traced in time domain using the Newmark time marching scheme, which results in the temporal evolution of lateral displacement at arbitrary point of the arch. Numerical results are provided to explore the effects of different parameters. It is shown that thermally induced vibrations indeed exist especially for thin arches. As the beam becomes thicker or shorter, the thermally induced vibrations fade up and for sufficiently thick arches, quasi-static and dynamic responses of the arch become identical.