Equivalent Finite Element Modeling of Thick Composite Structures for Analysis of Composite Hingeless Hub System

Abstract

Finite element analysis for thick composite structures is rather complicated. Two-dimensional modeling, which is relatively easy to make, can cause inaccurate result since the plane stress condition cannot be applied, while three-dimensional modeling is hard to make. In the three- dimensional modeling, it is difficult to model all the layers with different material properties and ply orientation in the structure. In this paper, an equivalent modeling is proposed and numerically tested for analysis of thick composite structures. The method has been verified for the modeling of composite plate and circular composite tube in order to find their bending deflection and natural frequency. MSC/NASTRAN and PATRAN are used for the calculation. It has been confirmed that three-dimensional analysis must be conducted for thick structures and the equivalent modeling is proven to be accurate when layers with same characteristics are properly grouped. The proposed modeling technique has been applied to analyze hingeless composite rotor hub system designed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). Detailed three-dimensional modeling for this structure is almost impossible to make due to its complex geometry of thick composite structures. Using the proposed equivalent modeling technique, failure analysis was performed based on stress/strain criterion and the safety of each part was checked. Deflection of the hub system was validated comparing with the result from the simple analytical beam model, and the numerical result will be used for the next design cycle of the composite hub system.