Preparation and quasi-static compressive behavior of fiber-reinforced truncated conical shells

Abstract

Truncated conical shells have numerous applications in aerospace and other engineering fields. However, they have been studied far less extensively than cylindrical shells, and even scarcer research has been done on truncated conical shells made of continuous fiber-reinforced composites. This paper presents a novel fabrication method using unidirectional fiber prepregs to produce conical shell specimens with varying ply angles and stagger angles. Quasi-static compression tests were conducted to obtain fundamental metrics such as load-displacement curves and specific energy absorption. More importantly, a finite element simulation approach, named Partition Approximation Method, was developed. Comparisons with common modeling methods demonstrated that the Partition Approximation Method more effectively predicts the compression response and damage modes. The results indicate that composite conical shell structures exhibit high energy absorption characteristics and relatively smooth stress plateaus due to their progressive failure mechanisms. Designs with stagger angles of 12° and 24° were found to significantly enhance the specimens' compression stability and specific energy absorption performance.