SANDFECH · Micromechanics-based finite element modeling of sandwich structures
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-08-23 → 2020-08-22
- EU contribution
- €249,793
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-GF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Micromechanics-based finite element modeling of sandwich structures
In this project, novel microstructure-dependent beam and plate models and finite elements are proposed for steel sandwich panels. Such panels have applications especially in ship building. The all-steel panels can offer weight and material savings in cruise ships because of advantageous weight-to-stiffness ratios. The decreased structural weight enables higher payloads and further renders to better fuel-efficiency, not to mention the space-savings due to the compactness of a sandwich panel in comparison to a stiffened plate. It depends largely on Europe’s ability to stay ahead in research, development and innovation for the current shipbuilding jobs to stay in Europe by developing new solutions like the ones in this project. After all, European shipyards and maritime equipment manufacturers (propulsion, automation, etc.) employ more than half a million people directly and nearly as much indirectly, working at around 300 shipyards and 22,000 supplying companies. Europeans have long been outperformed by their Japanese, South Korean and Chinese rivals in orders for large, standardised ships such as oil tankers and bulk carriers. Nonetheless, the European shipyards still have the strongest footing in advanced shipbuilding including high-value-added products like cruise ships, icebreakers and research vessels, each of which is typically a one-of-a-kind showpiece of engineering. Ultimately, the simple but accurate beam and plate models developed in this project will enable 20–30% more weight-efficient structural designs and will speed-up a simulation-based design process at least 50% mainly by scrapping computationally costly 3-D finite element models. In a cruise ship, weight savings of such magnitude make it possible to add another cabin deck to the ship. The developed structural models can also be used to model beams and plates made of architected lattice materials which are gaining popularity with the rise of additive manufacturing (3-D printing) technologies.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The use of novel steel sandwich panels in ship decks instead of conventional stiffened plates offers more economical and energy-efficient designs through material, space and fuel savings. To analyse the global structural response of a large ship within computational limits, the sandwich panels need to be modeled in an averaged (homogenized) sense without accounting for every small detail. Motivated by this, my objective is to develop simplified theoretical and computational micromechanics-based beam and plate models for sandwich panels that have unidirectional structural cores and flexible joints. The key theoretical modeling idea is to consider periodic panels as discrete lattices which are replaced by energetically equivalent, linear micropolar continuum beam and plate models. Subsequently, finite element models for the substitute-continuum beams and plates are formulated. Contrary to existing methods, the proposed approach includes all the necessary features. First, it fully accounts for flexible (e.g. laser-welded) joints of the panels. Second, the determination of all model parameters is straightforward. Third, the derived models can be easily implemented later in various readily available finite element software. In addition to shipbuilding, structural core sandwich panels have applications in bridge engineering and residential buildings. The micromechanical aspect of this project is expected to provide new understanding of interdisciplinary issues in higher-order continuum theories. Such theories form a central topic in my host’s, Prof. J.N. Reddy’s research group at Texas A&M University in addition to beam and plate theories and finite elements. The results of this project are disseminated in workshops to shipbuilders at Meyer Turku shipyard (Finland) and to bridge researchers at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) during the return phase in the Advanced Marine Structures research group at Aalto University, Finland.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR · EspooCoordinatorFinland
- TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM · College StationUnited States
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/745770
- https://arquivo.pt/wayback/20211014225410/https://www.researchgate.net/project/SANDFECH-Micromechanics-based-finite-element-modeling-of-sandwich-structures
Data: CORDIS, © European Union