Sharif Digital Repository

A finite difference technique is developed to predict the second stage creep displacement rates and stress analysis of a short fiber metal matrix composite subjecting to a constant axial load. The exponential law is adopted to describe the matrix creep behavior. Also, a method for prediction of interfacial debonding at fiber/matrix interface is developed using a stress based method. The obtained results could greatly help to better understand the flow pattern of matrix material and the load transfer mechanism between fiber and matrix. The stress components and strain rates are also validated by the available FEM and experimental results  

Popular usage of composite materials in aerospace, civil and defense industries in the last decades has been caused more attention to optimization of composite problems. Due to natural complexity of composite problems, i.e. discrete nature, complex dependence between design variables, existence of too much local optimum and etc., traditional methods of optimization are inefficient and it is necessary to use a powerful method to work cost effectively. Genetic algorithm as a technique through evolutionary algorithms is the most popular methods of tackling composite problems. The success of a genetic algorithm can be quantified by estimating the cost, time required and the quality of final... 

Deployable structures have been used on small satellites since the beginning of such space programmes. Here, the design sequence for a special tensegrity structure, for use as supporting structure for deployable mesh-like antenna will be proposed. The design process is conducted to prevent structural elements from failure, and satisfy the minimum specified natural frequency. In this research, structural modeling is performed based on two external geometric parameters (overall height and diameter), and three internal geometric parameters (elements cross-section properties). The pre-stress in structural element is the last design parameter. Also, materials are pre-assigned. Internal forces of... 

In aerospace applications, the weight of structures is considered as a major performance parameter. One of the most effective ways for weight reduction is then attributed to the structurally continuous manufacturing of mechanical components. In this way, not only the weight, but also the stress concentration, the cost, joints and fasteners applications, and the time of manufacturing are noticeably reduced. With this method, components with complicated shapes could be formed in a single manufacturing step. Special specification of whisker reinforced Metal Matrix Composites (MMC’s) has made these materials very attractive for the aerospace applications.That is why the superplastic forming of... 

Material selection is one of the most important works should be done prior to the designing of any part of the mechanical and/or nonmechanical structures. Various material selection methods, such as digital logic, modified digital logic, z-transformation and fuzzy logic, have been introduced and used in recent years. All these methods have some advantages and disadvantages in selection of appropriate materials. Since, all these methods exhibit some disadvantages, the main objective of thesis is to introduce the new method to reduce or eliminate the other method’s disadvantages with less complexity. The fuzzy logic method which is mostly used in this thesis will result in some problems due to... 

Obtaining the exact elastic response of composite systems to externally applied stresses is thought to be the most important way for predicting the mechanical behavior and tailoring the properties of composites. Over the past few decades, a variety of analytical models has been developed to investigate different stress transfer mechanisms in fiber composites. Although 2-D analytical model is still highly desired. So in present research a modified analytical model is developed for 2-D elastic stress field distribution in short fiber composites in plain strain for overlapping fibers subjected to an applied axial load . Two sets of exact displacement solutions for the matrix and fiber derived... 

Cost-effective and reliable damage detection is critical for utilization of composite materials. This research investigates a wavelet-based approach for SHM and detection of through-thickness crack in different lengths and angles in [0/45/-45/90]s CF/EP composite plate utilizing ANSYS finite element method (FEM) software and digital signal processing technique utilizing MATLAB software. To this end, a dual-PZT actuation scheme is applied, aimed at generating the S0 mode at a square composite plate. This study contributes to the damage detection by developing an improved wavelet-based signal processing technique that enhances the visibility and interpretation of the Lamb wave signals related... 

As aircraft fleets get older, the challenge of Flight Safety gets greater. This Thesis focus on management strategies and principles to keep long-life fleet safe and effective into old age. But the safety and efficacy are not the only ones who are considered at long-life fleet. Here the question arises why the aircraft prior to exposure to the effects of rising life expectancy, are not replaced by other aircraft.The reason is the high cost of the replacement. Aircraft are expensive to design and manufacture. In commercial aviation, extreme competition and miniscule profit force pressures to delay replacement of older aircraft with expensive new types. But in Military aircraft reason for... 

When today’s aircrafts reach the end of their service lifes, fatigue cracks are found to have developed along rivet holes and other highly stressed regions of the aircraft. In order to extend life of these aircrafts, repairs have been made to arrest these cracks. Composite repair patches provide an innovative repair technique, which can enhance the way aircrafts are maintained. In this thesis, composite patch design is presented based on axiomatic design technique. Axiomatic design is investigated design methodology for large or complex system design. Tools to enable successful application of axiomatic design are expressed as axioms and process for axiomatic system design. The patch design... 

One of the main problems in the airline industry is that many aircrafts of today's fleet are approaching their calendaring life, and it is impossible to buy new planes and supply previous ones for most of the companies. Therefore, in order to extend the life of these aged planes, some studies have been performed. The purpose of these studies is to discover the causes of aging and removing them. Repairing, replacement and reinforcing some elements of the structure are important parts of this procedure. This process is called aging. One of the requirements of aging technology is the examination of the structural response to the applied external loads and knowledge of the structural design.... 

Damage detection by Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors is one of the emerging efficient and dominant Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) methods. These sensors assess the health state of the structure due two strategies: a) near-field damage detection, b) far-field damage detection. The far-field damage detection is based on the high frequency Lamb wave propagation. As wave travels in a damaged structure, phase and amplitude of the wave will be changed. So comparison of the received signal from the pristine structure with damaged structure can give useful information about the health state of the structure. As PWAS is the essential part of this method, simulation and modeling of this sensors... 

The main purpose of this text is to develop a method for health monitoring of patch-repaired structures. The method consists of usage of piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) in the mean of stress waves in plate-like structures and processing the obtained results gathered from these sensors using finite element method. During this analysis, effect of different parameters has been investigated by sensitivity analysis methods. The main kind of stress waves that used are lamb wave of different kind. The behavior of main structure due to propagation of symmetric and anti-symmetric modes of lamb wave was investigated. Beginning with finding the results of un-damaged and un-repaired... 

Today, the material selection process plays an important role in all engineering design branches. Generally, in transition from concept design to detail design, designers and engineers need to find specific materials to optimize performance of the systems. There are introduced nearly 80000 engineering materials up to now, i.e. metallic alloys, composite materials, plastics, ceramics, glass and etc. These large amounts of materials and the wide range of manufacturing processes causes engineers always seek new material selection methods. In material selection it’s require to consider advantages, restrictions, necessities of method and this phenomenon appear because of design problem that... 

Nowadays, some of the major problems of the airplane industry is that airplanes’ fleet are approaching to the end of their defined life, inability to buy new planes and obtaining aircraft’s parts for repairing process. Therefore, in order to increase the life of the aging aircrafts, some essential process such as modeling processes, identify principal structure elements to strengthen and repair them should be done to all these airplanes, all these processes refer as aging process. Aging programs initiated in some countries, such as America, Australia, Britain and Canada from about thirty-five years ago, technological approaches inventing new ways to start repairing worn metallic structures... 

Human body is subjected to body accelerations or vibrations in several circumstances. During gravitational changes, the hydrostatic pressure gradient along the body axis changes, and then body fluids are redistributed. Prolonged exposure to high level external acceleration may lead to serious or even fatal situations on account of disturbances in blood flow. Due to physiological importance of body acceleration many theoretical investigations have been carried out for the flow of blood under the influence of body acceleration. In this study, the mechanical loads that pilots experience during flight are considered. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of mechanical... 

Retrofitting of old mechanical structures by composite materials is one of the most important issues of the world.High reproducing and replacement cost of structures leads to, researchers try to retrofitting old structures and increase their capabilities and so increase their service age. Their research results leads to decreasing cost in one hand and introduce new application of composites in aviation industry in the other hand.Retrofitting mechanical structures show us the important of elements with more stress than the others. The probability of failure is more in these element than the other that we call critical element.These elements in fact are critical parts of an aerial structures... 

Lifetime extension would be a necessary preventive action to halt micro cracks expansion on the airplane external surface. To decide about whether to perform this operation, one should examine technological maturity, costs and technical parameters. Technical status in lifetime extension is one of the major drivers of this decision which should be considered in the first step of technology management process which is known as the technology attractiveness step. In this research, major technologies of rejuvenation is examined and categorized by the technology mapping. Also, key processes of rejuvenation and technological fields ranking has been determined by the procedural view tools of the... 

In recent years world countries faced with the ageing aircraft fleet problem which increased the repair and maintenance costs of these aircrafts. The non-destructive inspection methods are common inspection methods of old aircrafts. To do this, the aircraft must test with a certain time scheduled inspection programme in a hangar. This method not only increased the repair and maintenance costs but also affects the flight schedule. To overcome this problem, the structural health monitoring can use to online monitoring the structure and when it needs for repair, the aircraft send to hanger. So, repair and maintenance costs minimize while the flight schedule less affected. One of the structural... 

Interpreting data of infrastructures monitored to detect damage of a structural is one of the most challenging issues of structural health monitoring (SHM). Especially, when environmental factors such as temperature, wind and humidity affect the data and the situation become more complicated. In this study, two methods of analysis free model of moving principal components analysis (MPCA) and robust regression analysis (RRA) have recently been considered for monitoring infrastructures compared with a variety of methods of data interpretation and results are presented. In this study, the performance of different ways in different loading conditions and arrangement of sensors have been...