IJIRST –International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 3 | Issue 02 | July 2016 ISSN (online): 2349-6010
FEM and Experimental Analysis of Stainless Steel Sandwich Panels for Weight Reduction Kamlesh G. Ambule ME Student Department of Mechanical Engineering Jspm’s Imperial College of Engineering & Research, Wagholi Pune 14, India
Dr. Kishor P. Kolhe Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering Jspm’s Imperial College of Engineering & Research, Wagholi Pune 14, India
Abstract The demand for bigger, faster and lighter moving vehicles, such as ships, trains, and buses has increased the importance of Efficient structural arrangements. In principle two approaches exist to develop efficient structures: either application of new materials or the use of new structural design. A proven and well-established solution is the use of composite materials and sandwich panels. In this way more strength to weight ratio and minimum weight can be obtained. The sandwich structures have potential to offer a many range of attractive design solutions. In addition to the obtained wt. reduction, these solutions can often bring space savings, fire resistance, noise control and improved heating and cooling performance. Laser-welded metallic sandwich panels offer a number of outstanding properties allowing the Designer to develop light and efficient structural configurations for a variety of applications. These panels have been under active Investigations during the last lots of years in the world. Out okumpu has been participating in several collaborative projects in this area. In Finland the research related to all steel sandwich structure was initiated in 1988 in the Ship Laboratory of Helsinki University of Technology. Keywords: Design Optimization, Hoist able Car deck, Laser Welding _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I.
INTRODUCTION
The demand for bigger, faster and lighter moving vehicles, such as ships, trains, and buses has increased the Importance of efficient structural arrangements. In principle many approaches exist to develop efficient structures: either application of new materials or the use of new structural design parameter. A proven and well-established solution is the use of composite materials and sandwich structures. In this way more strength to weight ratio and minimum weight can be obtained. The sandwich structures have potential to offer a many range of attractive design solutions. In addition to the obtained weight reduction, these solutions can often bring space savings, fire resistance, noise control and improved heating and cooling performance. Laser-welded metallic sandwich panels offer a number of outstanding properties allowing the designer to develop light and efficient structural configurations for a large variety of applications. These panels have been under active investigations during the last 15 years in the world. Outokumpu has been participating in several collaborative projects in this area. In Finland the research related to all steel sandwich panels was initiated in 1988 in the Ship Laboratory of Helsinki University of Technology. The first study focused on the application of sandwich panels in the shell structures of an icebreaker. Since then in a considerable number of research projects in Finland, such as Shipyard 2000, Weld 2000 and the Kenno – Light Structures Technology Program, manufacturing, design and optimization of steel sandwich panels have been investigated. The work is based on several R&D projects driven jointly with VTT Industrial Systems, technical universities in Finland, stainless steel manufacturer Outokumpu Stainless as well as Finnish sandwich panel manufacturers. In this article the results of the earlier mentioned R&D work in steel sandwich structures and applications is summarized from the stainless steel material point of view. The research related to design and design optimization of steel sandwich panels has been summarized by Romanoff and Kujala Steel Sandwich Panels: Types, Benefits and Production Sandwich structure in general can be classified as: composite sandwich and metallic sandwich structure. Composite sandwich panels consist of non-metallic components such as FRP, foam etc. and are typically applied as load carrying structures in naval ship vessels and leisure yachts, and mainly as non-load carrying elements on merchant and large cruise ships. For metallic sandwich structure there are basically two types of panels: panels with metallic face plates and bonded core such as the SPS panels and panels with two metallic face plates and core welded together. The metal material can either regular, high tensile or may be stainless steel, or aluminum alloys. In This paper focuses on steel sandwich panels welded by laser. The steel sandwich panels can be constructed with various types of cores as summarized in Figure 1. The choice of the core depends on the application under consideration. The standard cores such as Z-, tube- and hat profiles are easier to get and they are typically accurate enough for the demanding laser welding process. The special cores, such as corrugated core (V-type panel) and I-core, need specific equipment for production, but they usually result with the lightest panels. Naturally, during the production process or after welding of faceplates plates and core together, the steel sandwich panels can also be filled with some polymer, mineral or rock wool, concrete etc. to improve the behavior for specific targets. All kinds of sandwich panels have a number of common
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