Although 3D orthogonal textile woven composite panels demonstrate good impact damage resistance, they often have relatively low bending stiffness [1, 2]. Typically, stiffeners are added to improve the bending resistance (Fig. 1(left)) through fabrication processes such as sewing [3] and panel/flange joining through matrix adhesion [4]. These secondary processes can be undesirable, adding expense and potential weak points to the structure. Inspired by bio-structures such as peanut shells (Fig. 2), we propose the concept of embedding integrated stiffeners with low ridges to 3D orthogonal textile woven composite panels. This can be achieved economically in an orthogonal loom using standard weaving methods and provides a balance between improving structural bending stiffness, controlling the weight and the manufacturing cost, and maintaining good impact damage resistance. Utilizing a manufacturing-based parameterization method [5], a simple and straightforward design methodology is proposed to implement these novel composite structures and demonstrated using numerical examples.
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This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Career Development Fund (CDF)
Grant Reference no. : C210112026