Compensation of Thermally Induced Distortion in Composite Structures using Macro-fiber Composites

Abstract

This study investigates the use of macro-fiber composite (MFC) actuators to compensate thermal deformation in composite structures. The specific objective is to determine if MFC actuators bonded on the surface of a composite plate have the ability when actuated to counteract thermally induced deformations. Both finite-element analyses and experiments are presented. First, the response of an aluminum plate and a unidirectional composite plate both subjected to a MFC actuator is predicted. Next, the response of an unsymmetric composite plate with two MFC actuators bonded on the surface is studied. In the first step, a uniform temperature change is applied which induces a large change in the structure shape due to the laminate's unsymmetric nature. In the second step, the MFCs are actuated to compensate the thermally induced distortion. The results show that MFC actuators can eliminate thermal deformations when a proper amount of voltage is applied. Finally, a series of experiments are conducted to study the piezoelectric effects and provide data to compare with the finite-element results. Correlation between experiments and simulations is excellent.