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Flexural properties of lightweight FRP

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Article in Journal of Composite Materials September 2011

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 JOURNAL OF
COMPOSITE
Article M AT E R I A L S
Journal of Composite Materials
45(19) 19211930
! The Author(s) 2011
Flexural properties of lightweight FRP Reprints and permissions:
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composite truss structures DOI: 10.1177/0021998311410237
jcm.sagepub.com

S. Ju1, D. Z. Jiang1, R. A. Shenoi2 and J. Y. Xiao1

Abstract
This article deals with the flexural behavior of a lightweight, long-span, and triangular cross-section fiber-reinforced
polymer (FRP) composite truss. Three-point bending tests are conducted for a 6 m long, triangular cross-section, glass
fiber/epoxy composite truss and characteristic structural responses identified. Numerical analysis has been performed,
validated by the experimental results. Stiffness to weight ratio of this truss structure made by different materials has been
compared by numerical analysis under the same geometry dimension constraints. A parametric study has been employed
to determine the effects of different geometric parameters on the flexural performance of this lightweight FRP com-
posite truss. The composite truss is of bilinear behavior under three-point bending. The linear load capacity and flexural
stiffness of this composite truss structures are identified. A relationship between the individual geometric parameters
and the flexural properties has been obtained.

Keywords
fiber-reinforced polymer, lightweight structure, flexural properties, finite element analysis

Introduction composite materials allows the majority of materials

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite lightweight
structures, such as composite truss structures, have
been widely applied in various engineering elds, espe-
cially in the aerospace industry. Recent development in
manufacturing technologies has allowed the composite
truss structures to be integrally fabricated by the la-
ment winding process, with the same structural element
repetitively appearing along the length. These new type
of continuous lament FRP composite truss structures,
also known as the beam-like lattice structures14 or
macro-scale one-dimension periodic cellular struc-
tures,510 have attracted considerable attention due to
their high eciency in load distribution, long-span,
good integrity (few joints), and high specic stiness
and strength.
The concept of continuous lament composite truss
evolves from the continuous lament advanced com-
posite isogrid which was developed by McDonnell
Douglas Astronautics Company (St. Louis) as an e-
cient structural concept.11 Load transfer paths are
mainly along the ribs of the truss structures.
Continuous unidirectional FRP composite materials
are particularly well-suited for manufacturing these12
as the high directionality of unidirectional FRP
stiness and strength to be located and directed along
the load transfer path. The high-specic stiness and
strength of unidirectional FRP composite materials are
fully utilized in these composite truss structures.
Composite grid structure is a lattice of rigidly con-
nected ribs with or without laminate skins, such as
composite stiened panel or shell structures. The
same grid pattern of composite ribs repetitively appears
on 2D plane or curved surface (Figure 1). A composite
isogrid structure is one such conguration, character-
ized by equilateral triangle rib pattern. The IsoTrussTM
structure is structurally more ecient in the axial long
length condition. The same pyramid pattern truss
members appear along the length. Key characteristics
of the previous studies on the mechanical behaviors of
1
College of Aerospace and Materials Engineering, National University of
Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China.
2
School of Engineering Science, University of Southampton,
Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Corresponding author:
S. Ju, College of Aerospace and Materials Engineering, National University
of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China
Email: jusu.nudt@gmail.com
1922
Figure 1. Composite grid structure.
composite grid structure and IsoTrussTM structure are
twofold as discussed below.
Composite grid structure
Both strength and stiness controlled compressive
behavior of continuous lament composite isogrid
structures under uniaxial compression with xed
loaded ends were experimentally and analytically inves-
tigated by Reddy.11 Huybrechts and Tsai13 have stud-
ied the behavior of composite grid structure in failure
space by developing a deformation and failure model of
the composite grid structure. Parametric studies were
used to determine the eects of structure type and
geometries on the mechanical behavior of composite
grid structures. Compressive behaviors of the compos-
ite isogrid stiened cylinder and thin composite isogrid
stiened panel were examined by axial compression test
and the rib buckling was identied as the critical failure
mode by Kim.14,15 Hou and Gramoll16 has experimen-
tally and numerically investigated the compressive
strength of composite cylindrical and conical shells.
Eects of the geometrical conguration on the com-
pressive behavior were considered.
IsoTrussTM composite structure
Eects of dierent geometry parameters on the com-
pressive behavior of IsoTrussTM composite structure
were experimentally and numerically investigated by
Journal of Composite Materials 45(19)
Racklie et al.17 Both the failure modes of global buck-
ling and local buckling were considered. Failure of the
graphite/epoxy IsoTrussTM structure specimens under
compression, tension, and torsion was experimentally
and analytically studied by Weaver and Jensen.18
Carroll19 has conducted a numerical study on residual
strength of the damaged hybrid-grid IsoTrussTM struc-
tures subjected to axial compression, torsion, and ex-
ural bending. IsoTrussTM composite structures are also
employed as reinforcements for concrete structures.
Compressive and exural behaviors of IsoTrussTM rein-
forced concrete column were experimentally and numer-
ically studied by Blake20 and Jones.21 Flexural behavior
(strength, stiness, and failure) of IsoTrussTM rein-
forced concrete beam-column for use in deep founda-
tion pile applications were quantied by Ferrell.22
Lightweight composite truss structures are prefera-
bly used in aircraft and space applications. Schtuze23
has used the triangular cross-section lightweight carbon
ber (CF) composite truss in Zeppelin airships. For
designers to make intelligent choices when designing
with FRP composite truss structures for practical appli-
cations, an understanding of their mechanical behavior
is required.13 In many structural applications, the crit-
ical condition for the lightweight FRP composite truss
structure is bulking under bending load. Previous
works mentioned in the preceding paragraphs mainly
focused on the mechanical behavior under compres-
sion, torsion, and tension load conditions. Aside from
some limited coverage of the composite IsoTrussTM
structure,19 few studies have been done on the exural
behavior of other long-span lightweight continuous l-
ament FRP composite truss structures, such as triangu-
lar cross-section FRP composite truss structure. It is
this gap in the literature that this article seeks to cover.
Flexural properties of the long-span, triangular
cross-section lightweight FRP composite truss are
experimentally and numerically investigated in this arti-
cle. Three-point bending test is conducted for the 6 m
long, triangular cross-section, glass ber (GF)/epoxy
composite truss and characteristic structural responses
are identied. Numerical analysis with nite element
(FE) model is performed to validate the experimental
results. Weight eciency of this truss structure is numer-
ically evaluated by considering dierent materials.
A parametric FE model is deployed to determine the
eects of dierent geometric parameters on the exural
performance of this lightweight FRP composite truss.
Experiments
Composite truss specimen
The conguration of a triangular cross-section light-
weight FRP composite truss structure is shown
Ju et al.
Figure 2. Geometry for the lightweight triangular cross-section composite truss dimensions: L 6 m, b 333 mm, D 348 mm,
d1 8.5 mm, and d2 5.2 mm.
in Figure 2. The truss structure is dened by ve main
geometric parameters: total length L, bay length b, tri-
angular cross-section circumscribing circle diameter D,
longitudinal member diameter d1, and the helical
member diameter d2. The same structural element
lXl, as shown in Figure 2, repeats along the length
direction on three sides. The composite truss specimen
used in three-point bending test has a total length (L) of
6 m, bay length (b) of 333 mm, triangular cross-section
circumscribing circle diameter (D) of 348 mm, longitu-
dinal member diameter (d1) of 8.5 mm, and the helical
member diameter (d2) of 5.2 mm. The total weight of
the composite truss is 5.3 kg.
The composite truss specimen is fabricated from
GF-reinforced epoxy in the form of prepreg tow:
2400 tex alkaline free GF roving, bisphenol-A epoxy
resin CYD-128 (epoxy equivalent is 184194) and
curing agent diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM) system
are used. A similar lament winding process as used in
IsoTrussTM 24 and isogrid14 structures has been
employed to fabricate the triangular cross-section com-
posite truss specimen. After curing and demolding, the
triangular cross-section composite truss specimen is
obtained (Figure 3).
Scheme of the three-point bending test
A three-point bending test is performed on a universal
testing machine (UTM) as shown in Figure 4. The com-
posite truss specimen, force sensor, and UTM are con-
nected by steel wire rope and pulley. At the middle
cross-section of composite truss specimen, the apex of
1923
triangular cross-section is employed as loading point
which is connected to the force sensor. To measure
the displacement at the middle of composite truss,
two electromechanical dial gages are mounted at
other two vertices of the middle triangular cross-
section. Both ends of the composite truss specimen
are xed by weights to simulate simply supported con-
ditions. The weights should be heavy enough to prevent
any movement of the truss ends under the peak load
during the test. Four 50 kg weights are used in this
study. The force sensor and electromechanical dial
gages are connected to the same data acquisition
system. The composite truss specimen is loaded at a
rate of 1 mm/min controlled by UTM. The displace-
ment controlled load is continuously applied until the
composite truss specimen experience buckling and fail-
ure of the truss members. The data from the force
sensor and electromechanical dial gages are recorded
at a rate of 180 samples per minute and plotted syn-
chronously in the computer connected to the data
acquisition system of UTM during the whole experi-
ment process.
Experimental results
The loaddisplacement curve of the lightweight FRP
composite truss under three-point bending test is plot-
ted in Figure 5. The truss specimen was initially loaded
to 410 N and then unloaded to 0 N. The loading and
unloading process was repeated three times. The load
displacement curve of each loading process was coin-
cided. After unloading, the truss specimen can recover
1924
Figure 3. Triangular cross-section composite truss.
Figure 4. Experimental setup for three-point bending test.
to its initial state. At the third time, the test was stopped
at the load 431 N when the composite truss was highly
distorted and began to make a low pinging noise. The
polymer matrix micro-cracking most likely cause this
sound. Further examination of the graph shows that
the truss member buckling is initiated at 405 N which
is just the yield point of the loaddisplacement curve.
The experimental curve consists of a yield point and
two linear parts, also known as bilinear curve. The
slope of the rst linear part (k) before the yield point
is 33.75 N/mm, which is an indication of the integral
structural stiness of the lightweight composite truss.
Journal of Composite Materials 45(19)
Figure 5. Loaddisplacement curve obtained by experiment.
After the yield point, continued loading cause a rapid
increase in the displacement but almost no change on
the bearing load. The failure of the lightweight compos-
ite truss occurs soon after the yield point (St, Lt); it is
caused by local buckling of the truss members.
Consequently, the yield point load Lt can be considered
as the linear load capacity in design.
Numerical analysis
FE model and boundary constraints
To numerically simulate the three-point bending test
process, a nite element analysis (FEA) is carried out
using the general purpose FE program ANSYS.
Ju et al. 1925

Figure 6. FE model for the composite truss under three-point bending.

A quadratic three-node beam element BEAM189 is

selected for modeling both longitudinal and helical
members of the lightweight FRP composite truss.
This element can be used to analyze slender to moder-
ately thick beams and is well-suited for geometrically
nonlinear analysis of truss structures.
A schematic view of the FE model for the light-
weight FRP composite truss under three-point bending
test is shown in Figure 6. The FE model has exactly the
same geometry dimensions to the GF/epoxy composite
truss specimen used in three-point bending test
(L 6 m, D 348 mm, b 333 mm, d1 8.5 mm, and
d2 5.2 mm). Attention is given to the representation of
the experimental boundary conditions at both ends of
the composite truss. With default settings, six degrees
of freedom (translations in the x, y, z directions and
rotations about the x, y, and z directions) occur at each Figure 7. Loaddisplacement curve obtained by numerical
node of element BEAM189. To simulate the simply simulation.
supported boundary conditions, all the translation free-
dom of the four supporting nodes are xed but rota-
tionally free by imposing zero displacement at these experimental loaddisplacement curve, a simulated
nodes (UX, UY, and UZ 0). Corresponding to the loaddisplacement curve is obtained (Figure 7).
test conditions, two nodes at the middle cross-section
are selected as loading node and measuring node, Effects of different materials and geometric
respectively.
parameters
In order to account for the shape of the experimen-
tally derived loaddeection curve, the geometric non- To evaluate the weight eciency of the trusses made by
linear option is switched on in the ANSYS model. dierent materials, numerical simulations are done with
An element size of 0.05 m is chosen for the FE mesh the same FE model but dierent material properties.
in this model: this is consistent with the results con- In addition to GF/epoxy used in fabricating the com-
verging with an acceptable degree of accuracy. The posite truss specimen, three other materials, namely
displacement-time history of measuring node and the CF/epoxy, Al alloy, and steel are selected for further
load time history of loading node are, respectively, FEA studies. Material properties used in FE models are
derived from the time history postprocessor listed in Table 1. The case of same geometry dimensions
POST26 of ANSYS. Finally, corresponding to the (L 6 m, D 348 mm, b 333 mm, d1 8.5 mm, and
1926 Journal of Composite Materials 45(19)

Table 1. Material properties used in FE models

GF/epoxy CF/epoxy Al alloy Steel

E1 (longitudinal/helical) 46.6/45.8 GPa E1 (longitudinal/helical) 126/120 GPa E 70 GPa E 210 GPa

E2 E3 8.40 GPa E2 E3 8.90 GPa  0.33  0.28
G12 G13 4.70 GPa G12 G13 5.00 GPa  2800 kg/m3  7850 kg/m3
G23 4.14 GPa G23 4.60 GPa
12 13 0.28 12 13 0.32
23 0.33 23 0.34
 (longitudinal/helical) 2092/2099 kg/m3  (longitudinal/helical) 1796/1689 kg/m3

Table 2. FEA results for the truss structure with same geometry dimensions but different materials

Number Materials Weight W (kg) L (m) D (mm) b (mm) d1 (mm) d2 (mm) k (N/mm) k/W

1 CF/epoxy 4.05 6 348 333 8.50 5.20 91.69 22.63

2 GF/epoxy 5.07 6 348 333 8.50 5.20 34.10 6.73
3 Al alloy 6.77 6 348 333 8.50 5.20 51.91 7.67
4 Steel 18.97 6 348 333 8.50 5.20 153.95 8.11

Figure 8. Loaddisplacement curves of different geometric parameters: (a) D; (b) N; (c) d1; and (d) d2.
Ju et al.
d2 5.2 mm) is considered. For each material, the ex-
ural stiness k, and theoretical structural weight W are
derived and calculated. Stiness to weight ratio k/W are
used to evaluate weight eciency of the truss structure.
A parametric FE model is built by the APDL
(ANSYS Parametric Design Language) and used to
determine how the geometries aect the exural prop-
erties of this GF/epoxy composite truss structure. For
the geometry studies, the total length (L) is xed to
5.2 m and bay length (b) is replaced by bay number
(N) in the parametric FE model for the consideration
of facilitating the modeling, where b L/N. Four geo-
metric variables, D, N, d1, and d2 are taken into account
in the parametric FE model. To ensure the loading
point is located at the middle of composite truss, the
total bay number (N) is constrained to be even number.
The initial values for the four geometric parameters are:
D 330 mm, N 18, d1 8.5 mm, d2 5.4 mm. Only
one parameter is changed at a time while other three
are maintained at the initial value. A loaddisplacement
curve is obtained at each change and then the exural
performance maps of these composite truss structures,
based on the eects of each individual geometric
parameter, are derived. From practical considerations,
the circumscribing circle diameter of triangular
Figure 9. Effects of individual geometric parameter on (Lt, St): (a) D; (b) N; (c) d1; and (d) d2.
1927
cross-section (D) varies from 190 to 650 mm; bay
number (N) is set as all the even number between 10
and 44; longitudinal member diameter (d1) is from 5.8
to 9.8 mm and helical member diameter (d2) changes
from 4.2 to 8.2 mm.
Numerical results
The loaddisplacement curve of numerical simulation is
plotted in Figure 7 which also consists of a yield point
and two linear parts. The yield point data is (St,
Lt) (12.58 mm, 429 N) and exural stiness (slope of
the rst linear part) is k 34.1 N/mm.
Numerical simulation results for the exural perfor-
mance of triangular cross-section truss structures made
by CF/epoxy, GF/epoxy, Al alloy, and steel are listed in
Table 2, respectively.
The eects of each geometric parameter on the load
displacement curve of the GF/epoxy composite truss
under three-point bending are shown in Figure 8. All
the loaddisplacement curves have obvious bilinear fea-
ture and an apparent yield point is included.
Corresponding to each curve and geometric diameter,
the yield point data (St, Lt) and exural stiness k are
derived and plotted in Figures 9 and 10, respectively.
1928
Discussion
Experiment vs. numerical simulation
The experimental and numerical results of the light-
weight GF/epoxy composite truss under three-point
bending are plotted in one graph, as shown in
Figure 11. Both the two curves are bilinear curves
and very close to each other. Compared to numerical
curve, the experimental curve is smooth at the yield
point. More local buckling of the truss members
appeared after the yield point during both the experi-
mental process and numerical simulation time history.
Loading after the yield point, the highly distorted S
conguration longitudinal members are observed, as
shown in Figure 12. The dierence of yield point load
Lt and exural stiness k between the experimental and
simulation results is less than 7%. This indicates that
the exural performance of the lightweight FRP com-
posite truss can be simulated by FE method with ade-
quate accuracy.
As the failure of the lightweight composite truss
occur soon after the yield point (St, Lt), the yield
Figure 10. Effects of individual geometric parameter on k: (a) D; (b) N; (c) d1; and (d) d2.
Journal of Composite Materials 45(19)
point load Lt can be considered as the linear load
capacity in design. The slope of the rst linear part
dened by k Lt/St can be considered as the integral
exural stiness of the composite truss. As the yield
point data (St, Lt) of loaddisplacement curve indicates
both the load bearing capacity and integral exural
stiness of the lightweight composite truss, it can be
considered as the most signicant structural responses
of this composite truss structure under three-point
bending condition.
Weight efficiency of the truss structure with different
materials
Results for the triangular cross-section truss structure
with the same geometry dimensions made by CF/
epoxy, GF/epoxy, Al alloy, and steel in Table 2 show
that k/W of the CF/epoxy composite truss is far greater
than that of the truss made by other materials. This
indicates the distinct advantage of CF/epoxy in
weight eciency. Trusses made by the other three mate-
rials have very close k/W values.
Ju et al.
Effects of geometric parameters on the flexural
properties
As shown in Figures 8(a) and 9(a), with the increase of
D, Lt increases while St decreases which causes a dis-
tinct increase in k, as shown in Figure 10(a). The trends
in Figure 8(a) indicate the response of yield point (St,
Lt) to the variation of D: the exural properties of these
lightweight composite truss structures are highly depen-
dent on D as the integral exural stiness and linear
load capacity of the composite trusses are sensitive to
the change of D. As the Lt and St increase at almost
the same rate shown in Figure 9(b), there is little change
on k while N varies from 10 to 44, as shown in
Figure 10(b). It can thus be concluded that k is
Figure 11. Loadingdisplacement curves of the lightweight GF/
epoxy composite truss under three-point bending.
Figure 12. Deformation of the composite truss after the yield point load (a) Experiment (b) Numerical Simulation.
1929
insensitive to change of N. However, N is considerably
more eective in increasing the yield point load Lt, even
more eective than D. This indicates that the circum-
scribing circle diameter D and bay number N are crit-
ical factors underpinning the integral exural stiness k
and yield point load Lt, respectively, which are funda-
mentally due to D changing the second moment of area
of truss cross-section and N changing the buckling
length of truss members.
The yield point data (St, Lt) and exural stiness k
are given according to the value of d1 shown in
Figures 9(c) and 10(c), respectively. Lt and k increase
with the increasing of d1; however, d1 is not as eective
as D and N in increasing k and Lt. Compared with d1,
the increase of d2 will also cause the increase of Lt but
with little eect on k, as shown in Figures 9(d) and
10(d), respectively. Just like N, k is also insensitive to
variation of d2. In addition, as shown in Figure 8(d), the
slope of the second linear part of the loaddisplacement
curve (the section after the yield point) increases as the
d2 increases, while other three geometric parameters
hardly have any eects on this part of the curve. This
indicates that when d2 is large enough, the ultimate load
may continue increasing after yield point rather than
stop at yield point load Lt.
Conclusions
The exural properties of a triangular cross-section
lightweight FRP composite truss are experimentally
and numerically investigated. The composite truss
shows bilinear behavior under three-point bending.
A yield point of loaddisplacement curve can be
observed in both the three-point bending experiment
and numerical simulation. The numerical result
1930
obtained by FEA in ANSYS ts the experimental result
well. The eects of individual geometric parameters on
the exural properties of the lightweight FRP compos-
ite truss structure have been obtained. The composite
truss will break down soon after the yield point.
Compared to GF/epoxy, Al alloy, and steel, CF/
epoxy is typically well-suited to manufacture the truss
structure with distinct weight eciency.
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