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质自适应结构的机会。这种自适应复合材料结构的设计和制造的复杂性导致需要开发可靠和精细的数值工具来研究其力学行为。该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性能。在不久的将来，我们将研究集成了压电复合材料驱动器的复合材料结构的行为。研究活动将集中在：1)开发智能复合材料结构，当环境条件变化时，可以改变或调整其形状；2)开发一种用于变形应用的双稳态复合材料结构。将努力开发一种全面的数值工具，该工具可用于分析承受热机械载荷和压电驱动的结构。将进行实验工作以验证模型预测。将开发一种方法来主动控制结构在热载荷下的形状。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。我们将深入了解压电复合材料/层合板组合结构的性能。这一结果有可能导致在航空航天和航空领域的许多应用，加拿大公司在这些领域处于技术的前沿。

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.