Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Mechanical and structural components made of lightweight composite materials are increasingly being used in mechanical, automotive, aerospace, power generation including green energy, transport, and civil infrastructure engineering applications. In majority of such applications, the so-called "static" composite components and structures have been fully developed to the required cost-effectiveness, reliability, and safety levels. Also, such components have been optimized for high-performance, high-energy efficiency, low production cost, low waste, and longer life. This is not the case with the so-called "dynamic" components and structures such as machine components, machine tools, gas turbine blades, helicopter blades, aircraft parts, flight control structures, robotic arms, automotive components, and windmill structures. The reason for this is that the behavior and failure of composite components and structures operating under the service loadings and environments encountered in such applications have not yet been adequately studied. The present research program addresses this limitation. Its goal is the development of innovative high-performance composite components and structures that provide the required cost-effectiveness, reliability, durability, and safety levels. To achieve this goal, the long-term objectives of the research program have been set as: (1) To conceptualize and study composite components and structures that are representative of those used in engineering applications, using the state-of-the-art testing, modeling, and analysis techniques and to predict their dynamic response and instabilities; (2) To develop novel designs of composite components and structures for the desired requirements in engineering applications. Over the next five years, cutting-edge research on composite components and structures that possess spatially-variable stiffness, energy-dissipation, and inertial properties will be conducted. Emphasis will be placed on rotating composite beams, spinning composite shaft-disk systems, and vibrating composite plates. Research work on the development of new generation materials, known as "nanocomposites", that have significant potentials for use in such components and structures, will be conducted. The influences of defects and flaws that are caused by modern manufacturing processes and service environments, on the mechanical performance and failure of such composite components and structures, will be investigated. Samples of composite components will be manufactured and tested for vibration response and fatigue failure. Advanced modeling and analyses of composite materials and components will be conducted. Several undergraduate and graduate students will be recruited and trained. Industrial collaboration and international networking will be sought and used. The proposed research will make Canadian engineering industries even more globally competitive and hence contributes to the economic development of Canada.