Elastic deformation of fiber-reinforced multi-layered composite cylindrical shells of variable stiffness

Abstract For better structural performance, composite materials are being tailored by fibers of spatially varying orientation angles. The spatial variation of reinforcing fiber orientation induces variable stiffness in composite materials. In order to take full advantage of these variable stiffness materials, their structural responses to various forms of external loads should be investigated. This work examines a response of composite cylindrical shell structure of variable stiffness subjected to inflating radial pressure and spatially varying surface shear traction force. A mathematical model that predicts strain and stress distributions on this cylindrical shell structure is developed. The developed model is not limited by neither the number of plies in the shell nor orientation angles of reinforcing fibers. Based on the model, numerical examples are given for various fiber paths defined on the cylindrical shell. The numerical examples show that a cylindrical shell of variable stiffness subject to the mentioned external loads suffers axial compression and circumferential stretch, irrespective of reinforcing fiber paths. However, high axial compression is observed in the region where the orientation angle of reinforcing fiber deviates much from the axial direction. To verify the adequacy of the model, composite cylindrical shell of variable stiffness is simulated using finite element based ABAQUS commercial software. The numerical results obtain through the developed mathematical model and ABAQUS simulation show good agreement.

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