Programme

Day 1

0930 Registration.
0945 General introduction to composites - constituent materials and their properties. Overview of the design process.
1045 coffee
1100 Basic calculations - fibre weight and volume fractions, laminate thickness. Mechanics of reinforcement. Rules of mixtures for ply properties. Efficiency factors for fibre orientation and length.
1230 lunch
1330 Anisotropy in aligned fibre composites. Calculation of off-axis properties. Laminates - coupling effects, balance and symmetry.
1500 tea
1515 Sandwich structures - materials and design principles.
1545 Computer software for laminate property prediction. Hands-on session with laminate analysis software.

Day 2

0900 Structural elements - design of beams, plates, shells, stiffeners, etc.
1030 coffee
1045 Design codes and standards - applications and case studies.
[Jim Quinn, Visiting Professor in Design, University of Plymouth]
1230 lunch
1330 Hands-on session with design software - design of pressure vessels, shafts, beams, etc.
1430 Strength of composites - failure mechanisms, strength prediction, failure envelopes. Effect of stress raisers.
1515 tea
1530 Joining composites - comparison of adhesive and bolted joints.
1600 Overview of finite element analysis of composite structures.
1700 end of course