Title: Modelling of safety factors in the design of GRP composite products

Authors: B.J.C. Babu, R.T. Durai Prabhakaran, Aage Lystrup

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering Department, Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, Goa Campus, Zuari Nagar, Goa 403 726 India. ' Materials Research Division, Risø – National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark. ' Materials Research Division, Risø – National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark

Abstract: An attempt has been made in this paper to arrive at the safety factor design of glass fibre reinforced polymer (GRP) composite products using graph theoretic model. In the conventional design and recommendations of the standards, these design factors affecting properties have been considered as independent, while in real applications these factors may interact/influence each other. Following the concept developed by the authors, a simple graph theoretic model has been used to determine overall factor of safety. This is described with the help of an example and it has been demonstrated that the proposed overall factor of safety is an appropriate and comprehensive measure of factor of safety. The proposed methodology is illustrated for a typical resin transfer moulded (RTM) fume hood. The concept can easily be extended for other applications.

Keywords: composite products; resin transfer moulded; RTM fume hoods; code of practice; safety factors; materials engineering; graph theory; permanents; fuzzy crisp scores; GRP composites; glass fibre reinforced polymer.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMATEI.2010.035162

International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation, 2010 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.350 - 373

Published online: 10 Sep 2010 *

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