Influence of Equi-Axial Corrugation Pattern on the Stiffness of Thin Plates

Abstract

Corrugation is a series of parallel ridges and furrows. The essential common characteristic of each corrugated structure is their anisotropic behavior, high stiffness transversal to the corrugation direction on opposite to the compliance along with the corrugation direction, and the lightweight of structures. It can be made from steel galvanized, aluminum, stainless steel and fiber-reinforced polymers or other materials. Extensive studies have examined various corrugation structures due to their increasingly use in various industrial application. This study presents numerical and experimental studies on the effect of the equi–axial corrugation pattern on the stiffness of thin plates instead of the anisotropic behavior in corrugated structures. The numerical study was included two parts; the first part was included five cases divided according to the matrix of cells. The matrix of cells was (1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5) in an area of (360 x 360 mm2) and the metal used was steel. The properties of the structure have been improved by changing the geometric parameters which were represented by height angle and length of the cells. The height angle was changed from 40° to 70° with a step increasing of five degrees. The height was also changed from 20 to 32mm by 3mm increasing in each stage at a constant thickness of 0.5 mm and the distance between the cells was zero. The five cases were studied after their design by using a three-dimensional mechanical software design program SOLIDWORKS. Finite element analysis program ABAQUS /standard 6.14 software was used to analyze the designed models. The values of the deflection, weight and stiffness index have been calculated for all cases , in which the best-proposed part between the 175 parts IV was found, depending on the maximum value of stiffness index, where (N=9, H=32mm, and θ=70°). The second part of the numerical study, which was includes studying the second set of variables on the best part which was changing the spacing between the cells, magnification in the structural dimensions, the thickness of proposed thin plate and the type of material. These parameters were studied to evaluate their effects on the stiffness variation of the corrugation structure. The numerical study has demonstrated the importance of utilizing the equi-axial corrugation pattern to improving the stiffness of the commercial corrugated plates. The proposed patterns were fabricated with concerning the additional guidance of applicability. The manufacturing process of the proposed corrugated plate was attempted by using a punch and die, 3D printer, and folding techniques were attempted. Good agreements have been revealed between the numerical and experimental versions of the design.