Advances in composite materials have significantly reduced the weight of aerospace vehicles, and composite materials are more widely used in other fields such as automotive industry and civil engineering. Composites are often formed into thin-walled structures to fully exploit their high load-carrying efficiency. However, due to their complex material compositions, composite thin structures are prone to manufacturing imperfections, which dramatically reduce their load-carrying capacity. These effects have greatly limited the potential of ultra-thin materials that are currently available, and will be more severe as the composite structures become larger and thinner in the future.
The objectives of our research on this topic are to 1) understand the fundamental mechanisms governing the formation of imperfections and the influence on structural performance, and 2) develop systematic tools to mitigate the imperfection sensitivity. We use a combined experimental, numerical, and theoretical approach to investigate this topic. Please see our recent publications for more details.
Recent Publications:
4. Searching for imperfection insensitive externally pressurized near-spherical thin shells
Xin Ning and Sergio Pellegrino*
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Volume 120, November 2018, Pages 49-67. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmps.2018.06.008
3. Experiments on imperfection insensitive axially loaded cylindrical shells
Xin Ning* and Sergio Pellegrino
International Journal of Solids and Structures, Volumes 115-116, June 2017, Pages 73-86. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2017.02.028
2. Bloch wave buckling analysis of axially loaded periodic cylindrical shells
Xin Ning* and Sergio Pellegrino
Computers and Structures, Volume 177, 2016, Pages 114-125. DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruc.2016.09.006
1. Imperfection-insensitive axially loaded thin cylindrical shells
Xin Ning and Sergio Pellegrino*
International Journal of Solids and Structures, Volume 62, 2015, Pages 39-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2014.12.030