MULTIPLE LENGTH/TIME-SCALE SIMULATION OF LARGE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
Luigi Gigliotti, Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College, London
September 25, 2015, 2:00 pm, NASA Langley, Bldg 1205, Rm 222
Abstract:
For the efficient structural design of large composite components, the numerical analysis of their mechanical response often requires different parts of the structure to be modeled at multiple length- and time-scales, eventually even using different physics. To this purpose, it is crucial to develop:
- suitable techniques for coupling areas of the structure discretized using different finite element types;
- numerical methods to efficiently compute equivalent homogenized properties to be used in both 2D FE models and in the coarse-scale subdomains of multiscale FE models of large composite components.
To this purpose, a novel multiple length/time-scale approach for the virtual testing of large composite structures is presented. Such approach consists of:
- a novel Mesh Superposition Technique (MST) for the progressive transition between differently-discretized subdomains;
- a novel set of PBCs named Multiscale Periodic Boundary Conditions (MPBCs), that represents the first set of PBCs that apply to reduced Unit cells (rUCs) and enable the direct two-scale (solid-to-shell) numerical homogenization of periodic structures, including their bending and twisting response.
The relevance of the proposed approach is demonstrated through the multiple length/time-scale simulation of a real-sized aeronautical composite component.
Bio:
Luigi is currently a PhD student at the Department of Aeronautics of Imperial College London. His research focuses on the multiscale modelling of novel damage-tolerant composite sandwich structures in collaboration with Swerea SICOMP in a project funded by Airbus UK. Luigi graduated with honours in Mechanical Engineering in 2012 from the Polytechnic University of Turin with a year abroad at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) of Stockholm.
Luigi was awarded in 2015 with the Student Paper Award by the British Composites Society and is the winner of TSAI Award for Best Student Paper at 20th International Conference on Composite Materials.