Automated manufacture of optimised shape-adaptive composite hydrofoils with curvilinear fibre paths for improved bend-twist performance

Composite marine propellers improve hydrodynamic efficiency by inducing bend-twist coupling and allowing for passive pitch changes. One critical limitation, however, is the extent to which a composite propeller blade can deform and cause a pitch change without incurring structural failure. Recent numerical studies showed that curvilinear tows could improve the structural response of a composite blade by lowering its deflection or stress and strain required to induce a pitch change, but no experimental validation has been carried out before. The current study, thus, presents the manufacture of composite sandwich hydrofoils made with steered tows using automated fibre placement and validates the curvilinear tow benefits. Two hydrofoils were optimised with straight and curved fibre path layups, respectively and were manufactured for mechanical testing. The manufacturing complications arising from steering curvilinear tows in a three-dimensional convex mould are also discussed in the paper. The study found that significant tow buckling occurred near the tool cavity edge due to excessive steering radius during manufacture. The follow-up structural cantilevered tests showed that the experimental results were consistent with the FE predictions despite the presence of some manufacturing defects. The experiment agreed that the hydrofoil manufactured with curved tows achieved a similar tip twist but a significant reduction in deflection and critical principal strains compared to the hydrofoil made with straight tows. The use of a foam core reduced the overall weight of the sandwich hydrofoils by about 25% compared to that of a fully-carbon composite hydrofoil, and the numerical analysis showed that the core shear failure induced by transverse shear stresses was unlikely to occur.     

钢筋笼附膜地下连续墙工艺施工关键技术

由于受地下连续墙工艺限制,在基坑开挖过程中,易出现墙面渗水、接缝漏水等现象。一旦发生渗漏,堵漏服务将显著提高施工成本。为避免地下连续墙后期堵漏,节约成本,提出了钢筋笼附膜地下连续墙技术并基于杭政储出围护结构项目,对防渗膜材料性能、钢筋笼附膜工艺开展了试验研究。开挖结果显示,试验区地下连续墙开挖侧墙面与接缝处无渗漏现象发生研究结果表明,钢筋笼附膜地下连续墙工艺在具有可行性,且满足地下连续墙墙面截渗、接头止水要求,是围护结构防渗施工新的有效选择。