Date of Award

2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Department

Mechanical, Industrial and Systems Engineering

First Advisor

David Taggart

Abstract

The goal of this research is to create a scheme that seeks to improve the residual load bearing capability of structures subjected to dynamic loads such as shock or impact. The prescribed material redistribution (PMR) method, which has been demonstrated to accurately determine minimum weight topologies for structures subjected to static loads, has been adapted for consideration of identifying improved topologies for structures that are subjected to dynamic loads. A scheme is proposed and validated in which iterative explicit time dependent finite element analyses using a modified PMR updating scheme is used to identify improved topologies for dynamically loaded components. The dynamic prescribed material redistribution or dynamic PMR was successfully implemented using an Abaqus explicit finite element analysis and MATLAB as the optimization program. Four unique dynamic prescribed material redistribution topologies were evaluated against static PMR topologies and typical truss structures. It has been shown that the dynamic PMR can withstand high impact energies and still provide high residual stiffness and factor of safety, and low permanent deformation.

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