MFG58002 Advanced Mechanics of Composite Structures
Course Attributes Sabanci University – 2020-21 Spring Semester
Doctorate/Masters Level
3 SU Credit / 10 ECTS / 42 Teaching Hours
Course Schedule Wednesday at 9:40 am – 12:30 am
Course Relevance
Composite materials and sandwich structures are being used in an ever-increasing range of
applications and industries; therefore, manufacturing/mechanical/aerospace/mechatronics
engineers/researchers need acquiring practical skills about theoretical and experimental
mechanics of such material systems to be able perform reliable and lightweight design of
structural components. The current course aims at providing such skills through advanced
theories of continuum mechanics within the context of applications to composite structures.
Objectives
This course will cover advanced mechanics of composite structures through macroscale
modelling of composite materials using high-order laminate theories, and through experimental
characterization, and data acquisition and analysis. In order to carry out conceptual design,
initial sizing and preliminary modelling of composite structural components, design engineers
need a thorough understanding of the experimental mechanics as well as strength, stability,
and dynamic mechanical response of thin and thick plates/shells made of composite materials.
In this context, students will be given an overview of standards and tests methods for
experimental identification of material properties of laminates and sandwich structures. In
addition, the constitutive equations and strain-stress transformation equations will be reviewed
in the context of modelling composite structures. Beam, plate, and shell kinematics will be
introduced based on different lamination theories including layer-wise, zigzag, high-order shear
deformation theories. Principles of virtual work and minimum potential energy will be
presented for bending, buckling, vibration problems of plate and shell structures.
Analytical/numerical solutions of these problems will be included. Computational modelling will
include post-processing methods to obtain accurate interlaminar and transverse-shear stresses
and quantify damage mechanisms such as delamination, impact, and fracture resistance of
composite materials.
Learning Outcomes
At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
(i) Design and set up experiments for identifying effective mechanical properties of composite
structures.
(ii) Perform strain measurements using different measurement techniques and process
experimental data.
(iii) Perform coordinate transformation of stress, strain, and stiffness properties of isotropic,
orthotropic, and anisotropic materials.
(iv) Perform analytical and numerical structural analysis of unidirectional ply, composite layer,
laminates, and sandwich structures using layerwise, zigzag, and higher-order shear
deformation theories.
(v) Predict interlaminar displacements/stresses/strains of laminated composites and sandwich
structures (beams, plates, shells) under tensile, bending, torsion, and buckling loads.
(vi) Assess strength, damage, and failure mechanisms of laminates based on various failure
criterions
Course Syllabus
Week Topic
Review of Solid Mechanics
Lecture 1 Fundamental principles and governing equations, kinematics, kinetics,
compatibility, constitutive relations, laws of thermodynamics
Micromechanics of Lamina
Introduction to composite materials, polymer matrix composites, fiber-
Lecture 2 glass/carbon epoxy composites, volume fractions, fiber-matrix
properties, rule of mixtures, representative volume element, Halpin–
Tsai equations
Macro Mechanics, Strength and Failure of Lamina
Deformations of unidirectional laminate, lamina material
Lecture 3 transformations, engineering constants for generally orthotropic lamina,
lamina invariants, hygrothermal effects, failure mechanisms: maximum-
strain/stress, Tsai–Hill, Tsai-Wu criterions etc.
Experimental Tests Methods for Lamina Mechanics
Coupon-level tests: Constituent-level tests—tests on fibers and resin,
lamina-level tests, laminate-level tests, ASTM standards
Lecture 4
Structural element-level tests
Component-level tests: Subscale component-level tests, Full-scale
component-level tests
Macro Mechanics of Laminate
Laminate notation, classification, laminate types, classical lamination
Lecture 5
theory, stress resultants, plate constitutive relations, thermo-
mechanical analysis
Structural Analysis of Laminated Beams and Design
Governing equations of Euler-Bernoulli beam for laminated composite
structures, analytical solutions to laminated beam bending, buckling,
Lectures 6-7
vibrations, interlaminar stresses from equilibrium equations
(Midterm – I)
Design of composite structures: Basic features of structural design,
laminate design, lamina stacking sequence selection, carpet plots,
solution of design examples.
Structural Analysis of Laminated Plates
Kirchhoff-Love equilibrium equations for laminated plate bending, plate
Lectures 8-9
buckling and vibration, boundary conditions, solution methods including
(Project assignment)
Navier, Levy, and Ritz methods, analytical solutions to specially
orthotropic plates
Finite Element Analysis of Laminated Plates
General finite element procedures, Reissner-Mindlin plate element,
Lectures 10-11 kinematic relations, shape functions and displacement approximation,
principal of virtual work and energy, ANSYS Mechanical APDL coding for
solutions of laminated beam/plate/shell example problems.
Refined Zigzag Theory (RZT)
Introduction to layerwise formulation, RZT governing equations for
Lecture 12
beams and plates, finite element implementation of the formulation
using MATLAB/JAVA/Fortran
Nondestructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring
Lectures 13-14 Different experimental measurement techniques for composite
(Midterm – II) materials, digital image correlation, strain gauge/FBG sensor
(Project Deadline) measurement, thermography, acoustic emission, shape sensing and
real-time structural health monitoring
Exam Week Final Exam
Books and References
1. Buragohain, M.K., 2017. Composite structures: design, mechanics, analysis, manufacturing,
and testing. CRC press.
2. Altenbach H., Altenbach J., Kissing, W., 2018. Mechanics of composite structural elements.
Springer-Verlag.
3. Oñate, E., 2013. Structural analysis with the finite element method. Linear statics: volume 2:
beams, plates and shells. Springer Science & Business Media.
4. Barbero, E.J., 2007. Finite element analysis of composite materials. CRC press.
5. Reddy, J.N., 2003. Mechanics of laminated composite plates and shells: theory and analysis.
CRC press.
Assessment Criteria
Group Project (20%), Midterm Exam I-II (2×20%), Final Exam (40%)
There will be a semester-project and groups of four will be formed to work on the projects.
Course Material
The outline of lecture notes, project guidelines, and other course-related material will be
posted at the SUCourse site (https://sucourse.sabanciuniv.edu/).
