Multifunctional cellular sandwich structures with optimised core topologies for improved mechanical properties and energy harvesting performance

Boyue Chen, Yu Jia*, Fumio Narita, Congsi Wang, Yu Shi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper developed a multifunctional composite sandwich structure with optimised design on topological cores. As the main concern, full composite sandwich structures were manufactured with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) facesheets and designed cores. Three-point bending tests have been performed to assess the mechanical performance of designed cellular sandwich structures. To evaluate the energy harvesting performance, the piezoelectric transducer was integrated at the interface between the upper facesheet and core, with both sinusoidal base excitation input and acceleration measured from real cruising aircraft and vehicle. It has been found that the sandwich with conventional honeycomb core has demonstrated the best mechanical performance, assessed under the bending tests. In terms of energy harvesting performance, sandwich with re-entrant honeycomb manifested approximately 20% higher RMS voltage output than sandwiches with conventional honeycomb and chiral structure core, evaluated both numerically and experimentally. The resistance sweep tests further suggested that the power output from sandwich with re-entrant honeycomb core was twice as large as that from sandwiches with conventional honeycomb and chiral structure cores, under optimal external resistance and sinusoidal base excitation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number109899
Number of pages12
JournalComposites Part B: Engineering
Volume238
Early online date19 Apr 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

© 2022, Elsevier Ltd. This accepted manuscript version is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

  • Piezoelectric energy harvesting
  • Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs)
  • Smart materials
  • Vibration

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