Design of anisotropic structures: Calculation,optimization, and tests

Conclusions A computational procedure based on a limiting state has been worked out which proposes the performance of tests of samples, small-scale models, and full-scale structures and a statistical analysis of the experimental data. Advantages of the method are shown in comparison with the computational method based on fracturing loads which pertain to estimating the accuracy of the computational scheme of structures and determining their safety coefficients. An optimality criterion is formulated within the framework of the method which is related to ensuring a maximum of the limiting (fracturing or critical) load with a constant mass of the structure.Applications of the method are given to estimation of the strength and stability of structures made out of polymeric and metal CM with the use of the Gol'denblat-Kopnov criterion and solutions based on linear shell theory. The conditions for realization of the optimality criterion of structures are determined. Recommendations are made for the rational reinforcement of structures made out of filamentary CM, and a procedure is proposed for the rational design of reinforced structures.As an example of the tests for stability of cylindrical shells made out of aluminum-magnesium alloy under external pressure, the legitimacy of the cause of the disagreement between the calculated and experimental critical loads, which consists of a discrepancy in the nature of wave formation at the instant of stability loss and initial imperfections, and the effectiveness of the computational method based on a limiting state are confirmed. Refined computational formulas for the critical loads of cylindrical shells made out of fiberglass, carbon fiber, and boraluminum under typical kinds of loading are proposed within the framework of the method and on the basis of an analysis of the results of tests, and a comparison is made of the effectiveness of the reinforcement of shells made out of aluminum-magnesium alloy and carbon fiber. The values of the safety coefficients of structures which guarantee their reliability are determined.Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, No. 2, pp. 262–271, March–April, 1980.