Analysis and optimization of agro waste composite beam structures

Abstract

The present work, is focused on the study of beam type structures made of agro waste composite materials, namely of sawdust and palm kernel shell, and comprises two parts. A first one where the static and dynamic behavior characterization of the structure is carried out using a first order shear deformation theory approach, considering the influence of different fiber constituent’s percentages. In the second part, a few structural optimization case studies are considered concerning different objective functions and constraints, using sequential quadratic programming technique. Both, analysis and optimization studies were developed on a symbolic computation platform. According to the results obtained in the case studies carried out, it can be concluded that they respect the trends that would be expected, taking into account the nature of the parameters studied: the length to thickness ratio, the boundary conditions and the percentages of the reinforcement agents’ mixtures. A final aspect that is worth mentioning is related to the advantages of using such type of platform in research work, which enables for an integrated development and simulation environment, where the libraries access and the functionalities available, enable a more expedite and perceptive way of achieving results.

Keywords

• Natural fiber composites, agro waste composites, static and free vibration analysis, and structural optimization

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