Recovering critical stresses in sandwiches using through-the-thickness reinforcement

The paper is aimed at investigating the effects of stitching or tufting on displacement and stress fields of sandwiches, whose homogenised mechanical properties are computed through virtual material tests with 3D finite element analysis. After that, structural analysis is carried out using the adaptive model by the authors, which has variable representation of displacements across the thickness and fixed degrees of freedom. This choice is done considering its accuracy and computational efficiency. Numerical applications show that using these technical skills it is possible to considerably reduce stresses and displacements in sandwiches. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.