Application of Laminated Composite Grids as a Reinforcing Element for Automotive Components

This paper intends to present the application of laminated grid structures as a new class of stiffeners for reinforcing body and chassis of transportation vehicles. A laminated grid plate is constituted from several grid plies with different orientations. Therefore, the grid layers with various fibers, patterns, and orientations can be used, resulting in laminates with enhanced stiffness and coupling effects. In this study, a hypothetical trunk floor is assumed as a sandwich panel with two skins and a composite laminated grid core, which is clamped along all edges. Three different grid structures are considered as the core to strengthen the trunk floor subjected to arbitrary lateral loads. Moreover, the first natural frequency of the plates are achieved. The Ritz method is employed to obtain the maximum deflection and free vibration frequencies of the trunk’s floor panel. The results indicate that employing the laminated grids considerably enhances the response of the panel in comparison with conventional grids.