Strength Enhancement Of Helicoidal Composite Structure Using Full-factorial Combinations

Abstract

Abstract Structural development of composite structure has evolved toward mimicking the natural-proven composite structures. This approach is part of the biomimicry discipline, where biological structures are incorporated with engineering design to obtain remarkable design performances. The helicoidal composite structure is a proven practice of applying the fundamentals of biomimicry. The present study investigates the strength enhancement of the helicoidal composite structure as the combined effect of its design parameters (i.e., number of layers, layer thickness, and fiber orientation). The design combinations were derived using the full-factorial method, and the ultimate tensile strength of the structures was simulated by ABAQUS. The best design combinations obtained from this study were exhibited by the structure with six layers of 0.75 mm thick CFRP and using 0/30/60/90 fiber orientation. The analysis also suggests that fiber orientation was the most significant design parameter to influence the strength. Eventually, this study provides applicative information on biomimicry designs and approaches to solve industrial design challenges. Keywords: Composite material, Helicoidal structure, Full-factorial, Ultimate Tensile Strength, ANOVA