Classification of Composite Materials

Abstract

Fibre reinforced polymer composite systems have become increasing important in a variety of engineering fields. The rapid growth in the use of composite materials in structures has required the development of structure mechanics for modelling the mechanical behavior and the analysis of structural elements made of composite material as laminate or sandwich beams, plates and shells. The main topics of this textbook are

• a short introduction into the linear mechanics of deformable solids with anisotropic material behavior,

• the mechanical behavior of composite materials as unidirectional reinforced single layers or laminated composite materials, the analysis of effective moduli, some basic mechanisms and criteria of failure,

• the modelling of the mechanical behavior of laminates and sandwiches, general assumptions of various theories, classical laminate theory (CLT), effect of stacking of the layers of laminates and the coupling of stretching, bending and twisting, first order shear deformation theory (FOSDT), an overview on refined equivalent single layer plate theories and on multilayered plate modelling,

• modelling and analysis of laminate and sandwich beams, plates and shells, problems of bending, vibration and buckling and

• modelling and analysis of fibre reinforced long thin-walled folded-plated structural elements.