Design, Analysis and Manufacturing of Lightweight Composite Structures

Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing of Lightweight Composite Structures provides a thorough guide to composite materials and their applications, suitable for students of all levels, as well as those in the industry. Covering established theory as well as cutting-edge developments in the field, this book is an essential companion to anyone interested in composite materials.

Discussing the mechanical properties of advanced composites and their materials, this book describes testing and evaluation, focusing on sustainability in manufacturing. Looking at how composite materials can form structural components, this book is centered around how to design and analyze these materials as appropriate to different applications. It discusses micromechanics, stiffness matrices, and numerical calculations using MATLABR, Excel, and Python. It also covers failure, applied forces, strain, and stress, alongside finite element analysis of composites.

This book is suitable for students and researchers in the field of composites, mechanical design, micromechanics, mechanics of solids, and material science. It also has relevance to the automotive industry.

Dr. Hamid Dalir is a Professor and Graduate Chair and the Director of the Advanced Composite Structures Engineering Laboratory (ACSEL) at Purdue University, Indianapolis, with faculty appointments in Mechanical Engineering, and Motorsports Engineering. He earned his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. Prior to joining Purdue, Dr. Dalir held the position of the Technical Director of the Syracuse Center of Excellence for Analysis and Design as well as an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Syracuse University. He also worked as a Senior Airframe Structures Engineer at Bombardier Aerospace. Dr. Dalir’s research interests are in composite materials and damage mechanics; computational mechanics; multi-disciplinary design optimization; and multiscale modeling and material characterization. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, AIAA, and ASME. Dalir has co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed archival publications. His research is supported by NSF, AFRL, IEDC, DOD, Indy Car and CEG, besides several foundations and industries including Dallara, motorsports OEMs, and their suppliers.

Siddharth Bhaganagar is a graduate student in the Advanced Composite Structures Engineering Laboratory (ACSEL) at Purdue University, Indianapolis. He was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. Growing up, he was fascinated with innovation and engineering in motorsports industry, and this interest led to some early exposure in the manufacturing industry where he learnt about composites while interning at the Defense Research and Development Organization.

Nicholas Frimas is a graduate student in the Advanced Composite Structures Engineering Laboratory (ACSEL) at Purdue University, Indianapolis. He was born in Durban, South Africa, and came to the United States for his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering in 2017. He was given the Plater International Scholarship as well as the Outstanding Technical Scholarship to attend Purdue University and graduated with Honors in 2021.

Seyedeh Fatemeh Nabavi is a graduate student in the Advanced Composite Structures Engineering Laboratory (ACSEL) at Purdue University, Indianapolis. She completed her master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2017. Her thesis won the best thesis award. She has granted/pending national and international patents. Currently, she is focusing on characteristics modeling of AM process under the supervision of Dr. Hamid Dalir at Purdue University.