Analysis and design of advanced composite structures

复合材料和智能材料的独特结合为航空航天应用提供了获得轻量化自适应结构的机会。设计和制造这种自适应复合材料结构的复杂性导致需要开发可靠和精细的数值工具来研究它们的力学行为。研究计划的长期目标是深入研究先进智能复合材料结构的结构行为。在不久的将来，我们将研究集成压电复合材料作动器的复合材料结构的性能。研究活动将集中在：1)开发能够随环境条件变化而改变或适应其形状的智能复合材料结构；2)开发用于变形应用的双稳定复合结构。将努力开发一种全面的数值工具，可用于分析受热机械载荷和压电驱动的结构。将进行实验工作来验证模型的预测。将开发一种方法来主动控制结构的形状受到热载荷。拟议的研究活动将有助于探索和开发新的智能结构和系统。深入了解复合材料/层压结构的行为。研究结果有可能在航空航天领域得到广泛应用，而加拿大公司在这些领域处于技术前沿。

The unique combination of composite materials and smart materials provide an opportunity to obtain lightweight adaptive structures for aerospace and aeronautical applications. The complexity in the design and fabrication of such adaptive composite structures results in a need to develop reliable and refined numerical tools to study their mechanical behaviour. The long term objective of the research program is the in-depth investigation of the structural behaviour of advanced smart composite structures. In the near future, we will study the behaviour of composite structures with integrated piezoelectric composite actuators. The research activities will focus on: 1) developing smart composite structures that can change or adapt their shapes when subjected to environmental conditions variation; 2) developing a bi-stable composite structure for morphing applications. Efforts will be conducted to develop a comprehensive numerical tool that can be used to analyse a structure subjected to thermo-mechanical loads and piezoelectric actuation. Experimental work will be conducted to validate the model predictions. A methodology will be developed to actively control the shape of structures subjected to thermal loading. The proposed research activities will contribute to explore and develop new smart structures and systems. Insights will be gained on the behaviour of combined piezocomposite/laminate structures. The results have the potential to lead to numerous applications in the aerospace and aeronautical areas, where Canadian companies are at the fore front of the technology.