Influences of multiple holes on thermal stresses in a thermoplastic composite disc

Abstract

The aim of this investigation is to observe the influence of multiple holes on thermal stresses in a thermoplastic composite hollow disc. For this purpose, a thermoplastic composite disc is reinforced by steel fibers as curvilinear for radial direction, and thermal loads are carried out for uniform distribution at various temperatures. The solution is completed in two parts that are elastic and elastic-plastic analysis. Additionally, residual stresses are calculated using these analysis results. Finite element method (FEM) is utilized for calculation of thermal stresses. Therefore, the thermal stress analysis is performed using ANSYS® finite element software. Due to the fact that composite disc have different thermal expansions in radial and tangential directions, thermal stresses are taken place in disc by the applied uniform thermal loadings. The magnitude of the tangential stress components both elastic and elastic-plastic solutions is higher than that of the radial stress components, except edges of multiple holes. The present study concludes that magnitudes and distributions of thermal and residual stresses on the composite disc are considerably affected by increasing the uniform temperature loadings and existence of multiple holes.