Least Square Finite Element Model for Analysis of Multilayered Composite Plates under Arbitrary Boundary Conditions

Laminated composites are widely used in many engineering industries such as aircraft, spacecraft, boat hulls, racing car bodies, and storage tanks. We analyze the 3D deformations of a multilayered, linear elastic, anisotropic rectangular plate subjected to arbitrary boundary conditions on one edge and simply supported on other edge. The rectangular laminate consists of anisotropic and homogeneous laminae of arbitrary thicknesses. This study presents the elastic analysis of laminated composite plates subjected to sinusoidal mechanical loading under arbitrary boundary conditions. Least square finite element solutions for displacements and stresses are investigated using a mathematical model, called a state-space model, which allows us to simultaneously solve for these field variables in the composite structure’s domain and ensure that continuity conditions are satisfied at layer interfaces. The governing equations are derived from this model using a numerical technique called the least-squares finite element method (LSFEM). These LSFEMs seek to minimize the squares of the governing equations and the associated side conditions residuals over the computational domain. The model is comprised of layerwise variables such as displacements, out-of-plane stresses, and in- plane strains, treated as independent variables. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the response of the laminated composite plates under various arbitrary boundary conditions using LSFEM and compared with the 3D elasticity solution available in the literature.

Nonlinear free vibration of spinning cylindrical shells with arbitrary boundary conditions

The aim of the present study is to investigate the nonlinear free vibration of spinning cylindrical shells under spinning and arbitrary boundary conditions.Artificial springs are used to simulate arbitrary boundary conditions.Sanders’shell theory is employed,and von Kármán nonlinear terms are considered in the theoretical modeling.By using Chebyshev polynomials as admissible functions,motion equations are derived with the Ritz method.Then,a direct iteration method is used to obtain the nonlinear vibration frequencies.The effects of the circumferential wave number,the boundary spring stiffness,and the spinning speed on the nonlinear vibration characteristics of the shells are highlighted.It is found that there exist sensitive intervals for the boundary spring stiffness,which makes the variation of the nonlinear frequency ratio more evident.The decline of the frequency ratio caused by the spinning speed is more significant for the higher vibration amplitude and the smaller boundary spring stiffness.

A modeling method for vibration analysis of cracked beam with arbitrary boundary condition

This paper establishes a cracked Timoshenko beams model to investigate the vibration behavior based on the ultraspherical polynomials.Timoshenko beam theory is applied to model the free vibration analysis of the cracked beam and the numerical results are obtained by using ultraspherical orthogonal polynomials.The boundary conditions of both ends of the cracked beam are modeled as the elastic spring and the beam is divided into two parts by the crack section,and continuous conditions at the connecting face are modeled by the inverse of the flexibility coefficients of fracture mechanics theory.Ignoring the influence of boundary conditions,displacements admissible functions of cracked Timoshenko beam can be set up as ultraspherical orthogonal polynomials.The accuracy and robustness of the present method are evidenced through comparison with previous literature and the results achieved by the finite element method(FEM).In addition,the effects of flexibility coefficient on the natural frequencies are also investigated by using the proposed method.Numerical examples are given for free vibration analysis of cracked beams with various boundary conditions,which may be provided as reference data for future study.