Design, modeling, optimization, manufacturing and testing of variable-angle filament-wound cylinders

This work demonstrates the potential of manufacturing variable-angle composite cylinders via filament winding (FW), called VAFW. The proposed design strategy allows different filament angles along the axial direction by dividing the cylinder into regions of constant angle called frames. Designs using two, four, or eight frames are herein...

Overlap-stiffened panels for optimized buckling performance under minimum steering radius constraints

Recent research on variable stiffness laminates have shown both numerically and experimentally that further improvement on the buckling performance is possible by incorporating overlaps that result in variable thickness profiles. We present the concept of overlap-stiffened designs that take advantage of the non-linear coupling between the tow...