Equistrong Branchy Composite Beams with a Constant Total Area of Variable Elliptic Cross Sections

  • A. N. Polilov
  • , N. A. Tatus
  • , X. Tian
  • , A. S. Arutjunova

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is shown that it is possible to create branchy and shaped composite leaf springs with a constant cross-sectional area and three-fold reduced weight, at a given level of accumulated elastic energy, by choosing an appropriate spring geometry. The advantages of branching in comparison with shaping are the absence of cut fibers, exclusion of fiber disorientation, and the possibility of decreasing the spring size by combining its leafs into a bundle. The use of a unidirectional GFRP makes it possible to multiply reduce the spring weight compared with that of a steel analog with the same strength and stored energy requirements. An efficient use of branchy composite springs is possible for transport systems and, in the future, for space-based constructions due to their low weight and the extremely low energy of their production, and these factors allow one, in principle, to create such springs directly in orbit conditions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)325-336
Number of pages12
JournalMechanics of Composite Materials
Volume55
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Jul 2019

Keywords

  • Leonardo’s rule
  • branchy and shaped structure
  • composite material
  • elliptic cross section
  • equistrong leaf spring
  • low-modulus and high-strength GFRP
  • stored elastic energy

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