How to do the math?

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

Hi,

When I started to work on my bike, I went the practical way. I made tubes then broke them. Then I made tubes, joined them then broke them. All to see if the way I did my lay-up was structurally sound. I would now like to build the foundation for the practical test with math, so that I can repeat what I’ve done on paper for other geometries without having to do as much destructive prototype testing. I know this is doing it backwards and I should have started with the math to begin with but better late than never.

Since I don’t have a mechanical engineering background I’m not sure where to start. My question is:

Starting at zero, what do I need to learn to get me to the point of understanding how to use laminate plate and shell theory mathematics? Where can I find information to get me there?

Cheers
DB

#2

i used to harp on about people making and breaking stuff and not understanding why didnt i…however as you probably know for the past 7 months i have been breaking a great many things and discovered som alarming things which dont quite work out according to the test tests …i digress however

you missed the mail out didnt you when i sent all the books out to various folks over the other place

there was like 300mb of how to laminate theory ,processes,calcs mil stds ,suppliers list ,and at least 5 years of technical literature from the suppliers i worked with despite knowing f/all about much especially composites testing and that was just what was emailable bit

i did it once and unfortunately because it took so much time i wont be doing it again…a lot of people asked for it

theres a few things out there The Chung E book is a good starter for beginners you dont need to know much and its what a lot of people start with as its material based for starters… rather than mechanical engineering biased so its already coming from your end of the learning curve.I tend to find the practical hands on people fair slightly better than the people who like doing numbers if you take the approach of stuff they are familiar with

a reading list might be

some form of material or related engineering calculations book you need to understand the principle involved in normal …ie not composite materials too and how to understand the ability of these materials to withstand loads and stresses

STRUCTURAL COMPOSITE DESIGN:
Structural Design of Polymer Composites:

#3

Would you still recommend chung’s book for people with some mechanical engineering background? If not, which other books?

#4

Hi Composit,

I did miss the mailout but I’m not quite sure what you mean with the other place. I’ve just joined here a few days ago. 300 MB is allot to mail so I understand your reluctance to do so. If you would be willing to send it to me on CD, I could post it to a file sharing site and put the link here. Then, everyone could have access and you wouldn’t have any work with it. PM me if you’re interested.

I googled “the Chung E Book” but didn’t get anything definite. Did you mean the book “Carbon Fiber Composites” by Deborah D. L. Chung

Cheers
And thanks for not ranting at me.:slight_smile:
DB

#5

i used to be over on frameforum too

Yes the Deborah L Chung e book

it was on the mail out i did over on frameforum…like i said in the other thread you get fed up of listening to neil whine on and if you dont kiss his arse with the same opnion your a nobody…pretty much everbody has left for similar reasons

#6

i would say have a read A lot of people read it and its a good one for explaining composites in an easy to understand way rather than barrage with technical stuff that its easy to get lost in

#7

I found this on google books and I just wanted to clarify again that this is the book you are talking about… http://books.google.com/books?id=FHoBkd6PGXUC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=deborah+chung+composite&source=bl&ots=99-aRWhjP1&sig=fc2w-WAIzinNmYpC92wJT8Blcr0&hl=en&ei=rHJbSoC1DoSG8gT49Y3WBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2