Photostrictive effect in 1-3 composites of photovoltaic and piezoelectric phases: A numerical study

Coalesce of photovoltaic effect with converse piezoelectric effect will turn into a photostrictive phenomenon. The current study conceptualizes a 1-3 photostrictive composite consists of a photovoltaic polymer as matrix and fibers of piezoelectric material. The proposed artificial photostrictive composite is capable of replacing lead-based naturally occurring photostrictive material, not only opening a potential for new applications but also caters to tailor the desired properties. Present study employs poly{4,8-bis[5-(2-ethyl-hexyl)thiophen-2-yl]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b’]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl) carbonyl] thieno[3,4-b] thiophene-4,6-diyl} (PTB7-Th) as organic photovoltaic polymer and Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.35PbTiO3 (PMN-35PT) as the fibers. A representative volume element technique (RVE) is employed to embrace the local variation of multi-physics properties. The actuation response of cantilever and simply supported beam bonded to photostrictive composite patch is accurately predicted by finite element method, while discretizing the structure with degenerated shell element. Photostrictive composite with 60% volume fraction of fibers, arranged in square pattern have deflected the cantilever tip to 1.95 mm. Therefore, we provide 1-3 photostrictive composite as a solution for future wireless and lightweight vibration control applications.

FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF LAMINATED STIFFENED CYLINDRICAL PANELS USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

A study on the free vibration analysis of stiffened laminated composite cylindrical shell is described in this paper. The eight-noded isoparametric degenerated shell element is developed to model both shell panel and stiffeners by using the degenerated solid concept based on Reissner-Mindlin assumptions which taking to account the shear deformation and rotatory effect. Numerical results are presented and comparison is made with the published results from the literature and the good agreement is found. Parametric studies considering different geometrical variables of shell and stiffeners have also been carried out.

Improved Bilinear Degenerated Shell Element

The development of a new four node 24 degree of freedom bilinear degenerated shell element is presented for the analysis of shell structures. The present finite element formulation considers the assumed covariant transverse shear strains to avoid the shear locking problem and the assumed covariant membrane strains, which are separated from covariant in-plane strains, to overcome the membrane locking problem. The formulation also includes the deviation of the normal torsional rotation of the mid surface in the governing equation. This element is free from serious shear and membrane locking problems and undesirable spurious kinematic deformation modes. The element is tested for rigid body modes and distorted edges to meet the patch test requirements. The versatility and accuracy of this new degenerated shell element is demonstrated by solving several numerical examples for thick and thin plates.

Influence of Opening Locations on the Structural Response of Shear Wall

Shear walls have been conferred as a major lateral load resisting element in a building in any seismic prone zone. It is essential to determine behavior of shear wall in the preelastic and postelastic stage. Shear walls may be provided with openings due to functional requirement of the building. The size and location of opening may play a significant role in the response of shear walls. Though it is a well known fact that size of openings affects the structural response of shear walls significantly, there is no clear consensus on the behavior of shear walls under different opening locations. The present study aims to study the dynamic behavior of shear walls under various opening locations using nonlinear finite element analysis using degenerated shell element with assumed strain approach. Only material nonlinearity has been considered using plasticity approach. A five-parameter Willam-Warnke failure criterion is considered to define the yielding/crushing of the concrete with tensile cutoff. The time history responses have been plotted for all opening cases with and without ductile detailing. The analysis has been done for different damping ratios. It has been observed that the large number of small openings resulted in better displacement response.