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This paper presents the conducted research on an innovative pultrusion beam made of NCF carbon fabric for an enhanced flexural behavior. This includes laminate design and optimization. By changing the ply thickness of each 0°-, ±45°- and 90°- orientations (while fixing the others), their influence on the strength and stiffness of the pultrusion beam was studied by the finite element method. 7 different combinations of layups were designed to analyze mechanical performance. The simulation results show the layup of 4/5/1 ply ratio is the best one for strength and stiffness; therefore, the carbon fabric pultrusion beam samples were manufactured according to this layup. Bending experimental testing was conducted for both CFRP pultrusion beam and aluminum beam under the design case of equal thickness to compare their strength and stiffness. The testing results show the strength of fabric pultrusion beam is 82.5% of that of aluminum beam, weight is 60% of the aluminum one, and the stiffness is 75% of it. From the results obtained from FEA and physical testing, it is shown the pultrusion beam with complex multi-cavities shapes possess high mechanical performance. This research concludes the CFRP NCF pultrusion beam entails great advantages for railway structure parts and other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An innovative type of carbon fiber‐reinforced composite corrugated rib sandwich panel floor structure was designed and produced for a high‐speed train equipment compartment, complying with the applicable railway car body structural requirements and railway fire protection standards. Using the finite element analysis (FEA) method there was conducted a four‐step laminate design optimization for adjusting the mechanical properties of both the skin and corrugated ribs parts. A prototype was manufactured by an autoclave process and successfully submitted to static and fatigue mechanical testing for evaluation of the strength and stiffness of this structure as well as for correlation with the FEA model. It was finally concluded that requirements were met for this lightweight design and the weight reduction was approximately of 35.7% in comparison to the conventional metal structure. The research shown in this article does not only provide an effective carbon fiber composite equipment design scheme for the floor panel for high‐speed trains, but also entails a methodical design process for other applications of carbon fiber composite structural parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study on the structural feasibility of pultrusion glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) lightweight design of medium-speed railway vehicle mobile panels and their complete assembly for the substitution of the current steel panels. A detailed numerical analysis was carried out to analyze the effect of the most critical load cases from the specified ones, combining air-pressure and inertial loads. Using this methodology, a laminate optimization design was conducted using a special non-crimp fabric for meeting the mechanical requirements under these loads. The main components of the proposed design were manufactured by the innovative composite process of fabric pultrusion using multi-axial non-crimp fabrics (NCF). Finally, a GFRP panel prototype was submitted to static tests and its most critical fixation to static and fatigue tests, in both cases replicating the loads it would bear in the real application. From the finite element analysis (FEA) and the physical tests, it has been concluded that the proposed composite structure design not only complies with the mechanical requirements for its implementation, but also implies a weight reduction of 35.5% with respect to the original steel panel design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]