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Numerical Methods and Modeling Applied for Composite Structures, Second Edition
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Numerical Methods and Modeling Applied for Composite Structures, Second Edition

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Simulation and Design".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2027 | Viewed by 3008

Editors

Dr. Pawel Wysmulski

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Guest Editor
Department of Machine Design and Mechatronics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, 36 Nadbystrzycka St., 20-618 Lublin, Poland
Interests: thin-walled structures; laminates; buckling; critical state; finite element method; computational mechanics
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Dr. Katarzyna Falkowicz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Machine Design and Mechatronics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, 36 Nadbystrzycka St., 20-618 Lublin, Poland
Interests: computational mechanics; stability; plate elements; composites; matrix couplings; FEM; thin-walled structures; linear and nonlinear analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Patryk Rozylo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Machine Design and Mechatronics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, 36 Nadbystrzycka St., 20-618 Lublin, Poland
Interests: buckling; post-buckling; failure; laminates; finite element method; numerical simulations; computational mechanics; thin-walled structures
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Designing modern structures with optimized strength and stiffness parameters requires the use of modern technologies. This applies in particular to high-tech aeronautical or automotive structures, in which the most beneficial solutions in terms of operation and durability are obtained, for example, by replacing previously used materials with modern composite materials. These primarily include polymer laminates reinforced with continuous fibers, most commonly carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) and glass-fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRPs). Due to the very favorable mechanical properties of these materials in relation to their own weight, it has become possible to use fiber composites for carrier elements of thin-walled structures (e.g., covering reinforcement profiles). Laminates make it possible to create the mechanical properties of designed components in terms of their ability to carry the appropriate type of load. This characteristic makes it possible to achieve very advantageous construction designs; however, this requires the use of modern testing methods that enable the performance of the structure to be analyzed over the full load range. The studies of composite structures known from the literature mostly focus on analytical and numerical considerations, usually conducted on structures with typical cross sections operating under ideal conditions, subjected to simple loading cases: compression, shear, or simple bending. Only to a limited extent are such considerations verified by experimental tests on real construction elements.

This second edition is a continuation of the Special Issue on ‘Numerical Methods and Modeling Applied for Composite Structures’, which aims to provide a unique international forum for researchers in this field.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Pawel Wysmulski
Dr. Katarzyna Falkowicz
Dr. Patryk Rozylo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • laminates
  • CFRP
  • GFRP
  • buckling
  • stability
  • failure
  • crack damage
  • finite element method
  • numerical method

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 8842 KB  
Article
The Low-Velocity Oblique Impact Resistance of 3D-Printed Bouligand Laminates
by Shuo Wang, Yangbo Li, Xianqiang Ge, Yahui Yang and Junjie Li
Materials 2026, 19(8), 1502; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19081502 - 9 Apr 2026
Viewed by 663
Abstract
Traditional homogeneous materials often face an inherent trade-off between strength and toughness, restricting their application in high-performance impact protection. Mechanical metamaterials overcome this fundamental limitation by integrating structure and material. The 3D-printed Bouligand laminates (3DPBLs), a type of mechanical metamaterial, are renowned for [...] Read more.
Traditional homogeneous materials often face an inherent trade-off between strength and toughness, restricting their application in high-performance impact protection. Mechanical metamaterials overcome this fundamental limitation by integrating structure and material. The 3D-printed Bouligand laminates (3DPBLs), a type of mechanical metamaterial, are renowned for their exceptional impact resistance. While the 3DPBLs have been proven to provide superior resistance under normal impact, actual service conditions inevitably involve complex, multi-directional loading. We aimed to investigate the 3DPBLs’ oblique impact resistance here. To this purpose, samples of 3DPBLs with varying helical angles (0°, 7°, 15°, 60°, 90°) were fabricated and subjected to low-velocity drop-weight impact tests at impact angles of 0°, 30°, 45°, and 60° to evaluate their damage evolution and energy dissipation. The experimental investigation exhibited distinct temporal evolutions of contact forces, with the 15° helical configuration identified as the optimal design. Further numerical analysis using a finite element model (validated with a deviation < 10%) is conducted to simulate performance under diverse impact angles in order to validate the reasonability of the experimental investigation. Mechanistically, 3DPBLs enhance impact resistance by increasing fracture tortuosity through their periodically rotated layered structure. These findings establish a theoretical foundation for developing high-performance, lightweight, and toughened protective materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Numerical Methods and Modeling Applied for Composite Structures, Second Edition)
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21 pages, 6980 KB  
Article
The Influence of Thermal Conditions on the Stability and Load-Carrying Capacity of Compressed Thin-Walled Composite Profiles
by Hubert Debski, Patryk Rozylo, Michal Kuciej, Katarzyna Falkowicz, Pawel Wysmulski, Adam Tomczyk and Przemyslaw Mazurek
Materials 2026, 19(6), 1118; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19061118 - 13 Mar 2026
Viewed by 584
Abstract
This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations on thin-walled carbon-epoxy composite structures subjected to axial compression under varying thermal conditions. The primary objective of the study was to determine the influence of temperature on the stability, postbuckling behavior, and load-carrying capacity of the [...] Read more.
This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations on thin-walled carbon-epoxy composite structures subjected to axial compression under varying thermal conditions. The primary objective of the study was to determine the influence of temperature on the stability, postbuckling behavior, and load-carrying capacity of the tested profiles. To achieve this, an innovative research methodology combining laboratory experiments and numerical simulations was developed, enabling a comprehensive assessment of the performance of compressed composite structures at different operating temperatures. The obtained results allowed for both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the temperature-dependent behavior (from −20 °C to +80 °C) of thin-walled composite elements under compressive loading, offering new insights into their structural performance in thermally variable environments. The maximum percentage change in load capacity under variable thermal conditions was approximately 26.5%. At sub-zero temperatures (−20 °C), a slight effect on the load-carrying capacity of composite structures was observed, with a change in stiffness of a few percent. At increased above-zero temperatures (+80 °C), a significant change in stiffness (up to several dozen percent) was observed. The strengths of the work are a relatively extensive experimental program across several temperatures and stacking sequence composites, the use of digital image correlation to capture buckling and postbuckling deformations, and the parallel use of numerical modeling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Numerical Methods and Modeling Applied for Composite Structures, Second Edition)
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17 pages, 4890 KB  
Article
From Qualitative Localisation to Quantitative Verification: Integrating Active IR Thermography and Laser Scanning in Wind Turbine Blade Inspection
by Adam Stawiarski
Materials 2026, 19(6), 1107; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19061107 - 12 Mar 2026
Viewed by 617
Abstract
A coupled non-destructive testing (NDT) workflow is proposed that integrates active infrared thermography (IRT) with laser-scanning-based reverse engineering (RE) to increase the reliability of detecting and interpreting damage in composite wind turbine blades across laboratory specimens and real components. IRT provides rapid, image-based [...] Read more.
A coupled non-destructive testing (NDT) workflow is proposed that integrates active infrared thermography (IRT) with laser-scanning-based reverse engineering (RE) to increase the reliability of detecting and interpreting damage in composite wind turbine blades across laboratory specimens and real components. IRT provides rapid, image-based qualitative localisation of potential anomalies, while 3D scan analysis supplies quantitative, geometry-aware verification and measurement of defect magnitude, reducing both false positives (design-related thermal signatures) and false negatives (weak thermal contrast). On polystyrene-filled profiles, IRT alone produced thermal anomalies unrelated to delamination; co-registered scan maps identified or ruled out local indentation, correctly attributing heat-flow patterns to internal design rather than damage. Outcome: the fused method disambiguates thermal indications and quantifies defect magnitude. On a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) blade, the integration distinguished genuine geometric change from architectural effects under unknown internal structure and without CAD/reference scans, preventing false calls. For three horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) blades, fleet-level scan comparison detected a significant tip deviation despite no clear local IRT anomalies, demonstrating complementary roles: scan = global quantitative homogeneity; and IRT = local qualitative verification. These findings operationalise thermal–geometric cross-validation and outline a path toward UAV-enabled inspections combining passive IRT and laser scanning for hard-to-access structures under real environmental conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Numerical Methods and Modeling Applied for Composite Structures, Second Edition)
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23 pages, 10716 KB  
Article
Strength Prediction of Cement-Stabilized Steel Slag Using Deep Learning and SHAP Analysis
by Zunqing Liu, Yifei Wang, Jian Sun, Haojie Ji, Xiaoman Shan and Fei Liu
Materials 2026, 19(4), 795; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19040795 - 18 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 748
Abstract
This study combined experimental analysis with deep learning to investigate the effects of curing age, steel slag content, and gradation composition on the mechanical properties of cement-stabilized steel slag (CSSS). The strength evolution patterns and underlying microscopic mechanisms were systematically elucidated. Experimental results [...] Read more.
This study combined experimental analysis with deep learning to investigate the effects of curing age, steel slag content, and gradation composition on the mechanical properties of cement-stabilized steel slag (CSSS). The strength evolution patterns and underlying microscopic mechanisms were systematically elucidated. Experimental results showed that CSSS strength grows nonlinearly with curing age, with optimal mechanical performance achieved at a 60% steel slag content. The microstructural evolution characterized by SEM-EDS and XRD revealed that steel slag incorporation promotes the formation of AFt and densifies the gel network. In later curing stages, natural carbonation of Ca(OH)2 and secondary hydration of reactive steel slag components produce CaCO3 and additional C-S-H gel, which fill pores and significantly enhance long-term strength. A CNN-GRU-Attention model was developed to predict the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and splitting tensile strength (STS) of CSSS. In a single data split, the model achieved R2 values of 0.9875 for UCS and 0.9911 for STS, with RMSEs of 0.2577 MPa and 0.0234 MPa, and MAEs of 0.2059 MPa and 0.0184 MPa, outperforming all benchmark models. Under rigorous 5 × 5 repeated cross-validation, it maintained the highest average R2 (UCS: 0.9417, STS: 0.9329) and the lowest error metrics, confirming its robustness and generalization capability. SHAP and Pearson correlation analyses identified cement content as the primary strength determinant, while steel slag content exhibited a threshold effect, highlighting the importance of prudent gradation control in practical engineering. This study provides both a theoretical foundation and a methodological framework for analyzing variable interactions and predicting the strength development of CSSS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Numerical Methods and Modeling Applied for Composite Structures, Second Edition)
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