Analysis and control of smart composite laminates using piezoelectric materials
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Composite materials are increasingly used in aerospace, underwater, and automotive structures. Their use in structural applications is dictated by the outstanding strength and stiffness while being lightweight in addition to their flexibility in tailoring the desired performance in the design of structures. Failure analysis and shape control of smart composite laminates under coupled hygrothermal, electric and mechanical stimuli is presented in this paper. A linear thermo-electro-elastic constitutive model for transversely isotropic materials is used for each ply in the composite laminate. The first-ply failure (FPF) and ultimate laminate failure (ULF) criteria of composite laminates are used to predict the failure stress and mode of the composite laminate where we incorporate various commonly known macroscopic failure criteria including Tsai-Hill, Tsai Wu, and maximum stress for each lamina. In addition, the use of piezoelectric materials such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and piezoelectric fiber composites as actuators for controlling deformation in composite laminates is considered. The purpose is to minimize unwanted deformation, such as the one due to hygro-thermal effects, by applying counter deformation to avoid failure in such composite laminates. Carpet plots for different materials are presented as a helpful tool in the preliminary design phase. Finally, a control algorithm is also proposed that prevents the failure load of the composite laminate to be reached based on the results obtained from the FPF and ULF.
