A thesis submitted to The Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (MSc) in Mechanical Engineering ABSTRACT
Corrugated plates are becoming increasingly used in light-weight load-bearing applications. The component's advantages include low density, ease of manufacture, and great mechanical strength. In this project, performance of corrugated plates under lateral loading was carried out using finite element analysis. Different core shapes such as trapezoidal, sinusoidal, triangular, square and cross were modelled using Ansys software. Quasi-static loading condition were applied on the corrugated plates. Aluminum, carbon/epoxy, jute/epoxy, and hybrid materials were considered as a material choice for the corrugated plates as well as different thickness of corrugation. Foam materials such as phenolic, polyurethane, graphite and polyvinylchloride were investigated. Statistical analyses Taguchi design was utilized performed to discuss the effects of different parameters considered such as corrugation shape, material, thickness, and foam insertion. Study parameters include maximum load and impact energy analysis that includes total energy absorption, specific energy absorption and crush force efficiency. Results indicated that corrugation shape had the most significant influence on the study parameters, followed by foam insertion, corrugation material and thickness. The foam insertion contributed to the increase in maximum load capacity, increase in total energy absorption by 69.76%, an increase of 66.04% in specific energy absorption and an increase of 50.5% in crush force efficiency.