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Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

www.jmrt.com.br

Original Article

Performance analysis of composite ply orientation

in aeronautical application of unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) NACA4415 wing

Ernnie I. Basri a , Mohamed T.H. Sultan a,b,c,∗ , Faizal M. a , Adi A. Basri a , Mohd. F. Abas a ,
M. S. Abdul Majid d , J.S. Mandeep e , Kamarul A. Ahmad a,f
a Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,UPM Serdang, Selangor, 43400, Malaysia
b Laboratory of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM
Serdang, Selangor, 43400, Malaysia
c Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (944751-A), Prime Minister’s Department, MIGHT Partnership Hub, Jalan Impact, Cyberjaya,

Selangor, 63000, Malaysia

d School of Mechatronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Pauh Putra Campus, Arau, Perlis, 02600, Malaysia
e Centre of Advanced Electronic and Communication Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan

Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, 43650, Malaysia

f Aerospace Malaysia Research Centre (AMRC), Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, 43400, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The advancement in today’s material science has driven composite materials to globally
Received 18 March 2019 use in aircraft design with its superiority in high structural stiffness and significant weight
Accepted 26 June 2019 reduction. Composite structures ordinarily comprise of laminates with various fibre orienta-
Available online xxx tion angles offers unique outcome, hence lead to optimized design for composite structure.
The paper deals with the layerwise finite element model for static structural analysis of
Keywords: a CFRP laminated composite of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wing. The objective of
Laminated composite wing this study is to compare the results for different orientation of ply combinations which
Ply orientation contributed to the high-performance of composite materials that exhibit both orthotropic
Finite element strength and stiffness properties. Both properties present unique challenges for analysis and
Optimum design design. The study is further up to determine the optimum design for selected ply combina-
Composite structure tion on a wing with a tubercle design at the leading edge of the wing. Tubercles mimicking
the protuberances on the leading edge of a Humpback whale pectoral flipper, offering great
performance from an aerodynamic perspective. Hence, optimum design of composite is
found from the tabulated stress and displacement for each ply combination, where the
tubercles design at the leading edge of UAV wing showed better performance with a reduc-
tion in 38.75% of deformation and 46.83% of stress, compared to normal leading edge of
NACA4415 airfoil.
© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail: thariq@upm.edu.my (M.T. Sultan).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.06.044
2238-7854/© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Please cite this article in press as: Basri EI, et al. Performance analysis of composite ply orientation in aeronautical application of unmanned
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JMRTEC-762; No. of Pages 13
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1. Introduction
Composite materials offer excellent strength-to-weight ratio
with greater manufacturing feasibility of complex parts,
unique contours and special feature, especially in the aircraft
applications [1–3]. One of the basic component of an aircraft
that received attention in the structural application of com-
posite materials is the profile of the wings. Namely, one can
predicts the behaviour of physical systems under external
influences of any product design’s structure by using the finite
element method of numerical solutions subjected to abstract
equations of calculus [4]. The structural analysis based on the
finite element method is known to be very effective numerical
simulation and optimization method in the field of aerospace
engineering. Previous studies related to finite element analy-
sis presented in terms of software used and the outcome of
the analyses conducted encompasses the scope of UAV wing.
Sullivan et al. [5] used ABAQUS software to predict the
potential failure of an ultralight UAV wing under critical in-
flight loading conditions of pressure load. It was observed that
the deflections occurred, whereby the wing failed at the limit
load of 450 kg with applied load of 136 kg, 125 kg, 106 kg and
82 kg on each wing at right and left side. However, significant
difference of 1.2% between the experimental and computa-
tional data due to the thickness of the resin, which subjective
to be included in the simulation. Kanesan et al. [6] also
used ABAQUS to investigate the composite wing deflection for
NACA4415 airfoil at different locations. The static analysis was
carried out by applying distributed pressure load on the bot-
tom skin that directly on top of main and aft spars at three
different distances. Higher deflection is observed near the tip
of the wing, which resulted within the range of 0.35%–16.4%
compared to bending experiment. Meanwhile, Shabeer & Mur-
taza [7] investigated the optimal design structure of UAV wing
of all internal components and wing skin by using NASTRAN
software. In this case, the wing skin was made of compos-
ite materials, whereas the other internal components were
made of alloys. Similar analysis was carried out with differ-
ent orientation of composite skin plies, whereby the sequence
of [0/90/+45/−45/90/0] shown better performance in terms of
displacement and maximum Von mises at the root of the
wing. On the other hand, Kavya & Reddy [8] performed the
static, modal and buckling analyses on three different com-
posite materials including with/without the presence of spars
and ribs by using ANSYS software. The study concluded that
adding spars and ribs contributed to the high strength with
minimum weight of the composite material of S Glass. Prabhu
et al. [9] performed the static analysis on UAV wing of taper
(NACA0012) and rectangular (NACA2412) using ANSYS soft-
ware. In this case, the analyses was carried out by varying
materials composition (Alloy and composites) and different
number internal components of the wing (stringers and ribs).
Hence, the study revealed that stringers and ribs contributes
to the stress action on the entire wing structure. Recent study
by [10] performed the structural design process for UAV wing
and subsequent optimization. The authors used mathemati-
cal modelling by MATLAB to calculate the loading as input, so
that the static structural and buckling analysis can be per-
formed using ANSYS. The spars were made of aluminium
Please cite this article in press as: Basri EI, et al. Performance analysis of composite ply orientation in aeronautical application of unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) NACA4415 wing. J Mater Res Technol. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.06.044
Fig. 1 – Composite laminate structure [19].
alloys, while ribs are made of balsawood. Equivalent von Mises
stress was observed at the joint between spar and rib located
near to wing root. Hence, the optimization in terms of weight
was obtained by changing the position of spar, which at 22%
from the chord, that contributed to the increase ratio for rib
spacing and reduced total weight.
In practice, most special man-made composites consist of
several elements of material known as ‘matrix’, reinforcement
and core in form of fiber to increase the strength and stiff-
ness of the structure [11–13]. Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer
(CFRP) is widely known as lightweight and strong materials
that comprises of various type of fibers like carbon, glass
and aramid as the reinforcement that are embedded in a
polymer-based resin as the matrix [14,15].The cloth formed
(reinforcement and matrix) can be molded in a double curva-
ture that required for aerodynamic shapes. Interestingly, core
materials for sandwich structure is physically able to sepa-
rate strength, and potentially in transmitting shearing forces
across the sandwich [16,17]. Common types of cores used in
aircraft applications are foam, honeycomb, and wood. There-
fore, the combination of reinforcement, matrix (resins) and
core systems lead to the production of laminate that either
can enhance or degrade the constituent material properties
[18]. Hence, these combinations required to design a laminate
of stacking plies of multiple layers composites to understand
the structural behavior with unique orientations, as in Fig. 1.
The design goals of composite structure is its excellent
of less in weight and high basic firmness in strength which
characterized in terms of specific strength and specific mod-
ulus. Mechanically, the composite itself depend on the fiber
properties and the degree of transmitted load on fiber-matrix
bond. Thus, the deformation pattern in matrix surrounding a
fiber is subjected to applied loads [18,20]. Besides that, the ori-
entation of the fibers significantly influenced the strength of
composite. In more specific, the properties of fibers direction
such as continuous aligned, discontinuous aligned or random
aligned may affect the stress–strain behaviors of fibers and
matrix phases, the direction of load applied and the phase
volume fraction. Thus, this circumstances may cause the
composite failure like fracture. However, the inevitable chal-
lenges of optimizing the weight design of UAV composite with
respect to its strength properties is the assignment of com-
posite in terms of stacking sequence, fibers orientation and
loading direction. Plus, this is due to the lack accurate data
and the use of more familiar metals compared to composite
JMRTEC-762; No. of Pages 13
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Fig. 2 – Polar properties of fabric (a) unidirectional; (b) bidirectional; (c) quasi isotropic [22].
[6,21]. In ANSYS, the composite fabrics orthotropic proper-
ties mainly to visualize the off axis stiffness to be expected
from the fabric type [22]. The individual fabrics or even the
combined stack ups of multiple plies that being applied to
the structure in form of polar properties may reduce the trial
and error at the analysis stage. The polar properties of fab-
rics may consist of three types namely unidirectional [0]n,
bi-directional [0,90]n and quasi isotropic [0,±45,90], as shown
in Fig. 2.
In today’s aeronautical applications, the advancement of
flow control devices used on airfoils, wings and hydrofoils
found in the natural world namely tubercles is one of the great
factor contributing to increase stability, efficiency and less
operational cost in the development of UAV industry. There
has been a growing interest in researches of tubercles due to its
prominent effects on the performance of aircraft wings such
as more gradual stall, increase angle of stall, increase maxi-
mum lift, decrease the lift gradient near stall and many more
[23–27]. Until recently, there are numbers of researches includ-
ing numerical, experimental and analytical works that have
been conducted to investigate the effects of TLE on the per-
formance of humpback whale flippers [23,26,28–36]. Yet, most
of these research works studied only on the aerodynamic per-
formance of lift and drag and stall characteristics subjected to
external flow.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the
structural performance of laminated composite at various
fibre orientation angles and compare the advanced materi-
als used in terms of optimal design of UAV wing. The wing
design involves the design calculations of selected airfoil of
NACA4415 including the external and internal members of
wings, i.e skin, spar, and ribs as well as the wing loading char-
acteristics. The design is carried out using SolidWork and the
assignment of composite as well as the analysis of structural
deformation and applied loading conditions are done with the
help of ANSYS 16.1 Workbench.
In particular, this paper is structured into sections and sub-
sections. The parametric layout of the wing is elaborated in
the next section. The following subsections includes the geo-
metrical configuration, material assignation. The modelling of
layered composite structure is presented in the next section.
The structural analysis on different fiber orientation will be
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3
done in Section 4, and followed by the result of analysis in
Section 5. Conclusion will be provided in Section 6.
2. Parametric layout of wing structure
In this study, the commencement step of static structural anal-
ysis is parametric layout of geometrical wing structure. In
this step, the geometrical design is prepared and imported
to ANSYS 16.1 Workbench to undergo the mesh generation
of the imported model. The modelling process of layering the
composite laminates is in the subsequent step. The analysis
is carried out in the final step, whereby the condition of struc-
tural analysis and failure criteria are assigned to determine
the structural response. The overall process is presented in
Fig. 3.
2.1. Geometrical configuration
In this study, the wing of NACA 4415 airfoil was designed
using SolidWork, so that more accurate drawing of the air-
foil shape can be obtained. The major structural components
of UAV wing are three parts of skin, two spars, two outboard
ribs, six leading ribs, five middle ribs and seven trailing ribs. In
this study, the span length of the wing is set to 5.1257 m and
the chord length is 0.5886 m. The design of UAV NACA 4415 is
depicted in Fig. 4.
In this case, the spars are designed in such a way that com-
bined the L-shape and U-shape. The spar to skin, rib to skin,
and spar to rib are attached with adhesive joints, whereby the
tied surfaces are assumed to be zero thickness subjected to
the tied constraint.
2.2. Material assignation
All major structural components of NACA 4415 UAV wing are
made of composite fibre except for the bracket at the spar. The
construction of the composite components mostly used are
carbon fibre fabric, unidirectional carbon fibre, Kevlar, honey-
comb core with epoxy resin as matrix. The details of the wing
components elastic and strength properties of material used
are given in Tables 1 and 2.
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Fig. 3 – Flow diagram of process and analysis in structural laminated composite materials.

Fig. 4 – (a) and (b) Parameters of the wing; (c) Geometrical design of NACA 4415 airfoil.

2.3. Mesh generation
Finite element mesh is the key role in determining the accu-
racy of validating since the nodes generated defined the
output criteria of the analysis [6]. Prior to generating mesh,
it is important to ensure that the mesh should accurately rep-
resent the geometry of the computational domain and loads.
Kanesan et al. [6] also stated that the mesh should not contain
elements with very large aspect ratio. The mesh also should
adequately represent the large displacement or stress gradi-
ent in the solution. The shell elements (SHELL181) are used
for the analysis of composite shells or plates [37]. In the case

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Table 1 – Elastic properties materials (sources: [6]).

Material Density Elastic modulus, Elastic modulus, Poisson ratio, Shear modulus,
(kg/m3 ) E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) v12 G12 (GPa)

Carbon fibre fabric/epoxy 1600 70 70 0.1 5

Carbon unitape/epoxy 1600 140 10 0.3 5
Kevlar/epoxy 1400 78.5 5.52 0.34 2.07
Honeycomb 48 128.7 12.6 0.261 1.6

Table 2 – Strength properties materials (sources: [6]).

Material Tensile strength Tensile strength Tensile strength in Tensile strength in Shear strength, S
in fiber direction, in fiber direction, transverse direction, transverse direction, (MPa)
Xt (MPa) Xc (MPa) Yt (MPa) Yc (MPa)

Carbon fibre fabric/epoxy 600 570 600 570 90

Carbon unitape/epoxy 1500 1200 50 250 70
Kevlar/epoxy 1380 276 29.6 137.9 43.4
Honeycomb 2.344 4.07 2.344 4.07 6

Fig. 5 – Mesh generation on both wing components.

Fig. 6 – The grid dependency test subjected to total displacement.

of laminated shell, the orientation of each lamina is defined
from the given rotation angle relative to orientation for the
entire shell section. Moreover, the properties of each lamina
are defined by the linear elastic behaviour for lamina under
plane stress condition. The grid independence test is carried
out from varying number of elements considering 10k, 18k,
20k, 40k, 65k, 80k, 100k, 120k, 140k, 165k, 180k, 200k, 250k,
300k, and 800k. Throughout the dependency test, the 250k ele-
ment mesh provided an accurate solution with the hexahedral
mesh. The maximum skewness of mesh is in good quality of
0.8. The mesh element of UAV wing is depicted in Figs. 5 and 6.
3. Modelling layered of composite structure
In ANSYS [22], ACP (ANSYS Composite PrePost) module is used
to apply composite materials of varying thickness and angles.
This is applied only to the surface of wing skin, spars, and ribs.

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the mid-plane strains and curvature. In order to calculate the

stresses and strain in each lamina, both mid-plane and cur-
vatures are assumed to be constant across the thickness. Yet,
several assumption are given [39,40]:

• Each lamina is orthotropic and quasi-homogeneous.

• Deformation are continuous and small through the lami-
nate.
• A line, which is straight and perpendicular to the middle
surface remains straight and perpendicular to the middle
surface during deformation.
• The laminate is thin and is loaded in its plane (plane stress),
whereby out-of-plane (normal) direct stress is zero.
• Layers are perfectly bonded together and no slip occurs
between the lamina interfaces.
• In-plane stress and curvature are small.
• Strain-displacement and stress-strain relationship are lin-
ear.
• Transverse shear strain ( xz and yz ) are negligible.
• Transverse normal strain εz is negligible compared to the
in-plane strains εx and εy .

In ANSYS, the model of wing structure is interpreted in

form of shell element (lamina). At first, the lamina is defined
in terms of fabric, material and its thickness. As in Fig. 3, the
subsequent step is the definition of rosette as reference direc-
tion of 0◦ of fibre direction, oriented selection set for layup
direction and composite layup in Modeling Ply Groups.
Theoretically, a laminate comprises number of plies, n and
each ply has its thicknesses of tk . The thickness of the lami-
nate, h can be derived as
Fig. 7 – Fibre orientation in three planar surface areas [38].

n
h= tk (1)
k=1
By using this module, the model developed in from of shell
element of SHELL181 is assigned as single sheet of a speci-
The location of the mid-plane is h2 from the top and the
fied thickness. The composite fabrics are created along with
bottom surface of the laminate. The z-coordinates of each ply,
other composites and core materials, which are subsequently
k surface are given by:
combined together to for a laminated composite materials.
The composite fabric is created according to its thicknesses, h
Ply 1 : (top surface) h0 = − (2)
and attached to each other to create a stack-up at assigned 2
orientation (◦ ). Then, to create a laminate, the stack-up with
oriented 0◦ is sandwiched between the top and bottom plies. h
(bottom surface) h1 = − + t1 (3)
The most challenging is the complication arises in the design 2
configuration with combination of various materials with dif-
Ply k : (k = 2, 3, . . ...n − 2, n − 1) (4)
ferent plies and various orientation in a 360◦ manner. This is
important to adequately defined the model configuration with
h 
k−1
local coordinate systems (x1 , y1 , z1 ) at assigned orientation, (top surface) hk−1 = − + t (5)
including the other plate stacking of off-axis plies in relation 2
−1
to its appropriate local coordinate system (x3 , y3 , z3 ) [38]. This
crucial consideration is well-explained in Fig. 7.
h 
k

(bottom surface) hk−1 = − + t (6)

2
3.1. Mid-plane theory −1

Referring to Fig. 3, the laminated composite is prepared h

Ply n : (top surface) hn−1 = − + tn (7)
according to the Classical Laminate Theory (CLT) to investi- 2
gate the behaviour of composite sandwich structure subjected
h
to external influence of load applied. In this case, the Kirchoff- (bottom surface) hn = (8)
2
Love hypothesis is applied in CLT approach, whereby the
applied loads acting on the laminate structure is related to The laminate created is depicted in Fig. 8.

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Fig. 8 – The ply arrangement of laminated composite in ACP.

Throughout the thickness of the laminate, integration of boundary condition of the model. In this analysis, two impor-
the global stresses in each individual ply provides cross- tant boundary conditions needed to be specified. The first
sectional forces and moments per unit length in x–y plane. is the attachment of the bracket to the fuselage. The bot-
Hence, cross-sectional forces and moments in relation to the tom surface of the bracket was defined as fixed due to the
mid-plane strains and curvature, is as follows [41–43]: fuselage not included in the model. All the displacements
and rotations of the bottom surface of the brackets were
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
Nx A11 A12 A16 B11 B12 B16 ε0x set to zero. The second is the symmetrical condition of the
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥ wings that were defined as the boundary condition. The
⎢ Ny ⎥ ⎢ A12 A22 A26 B12 B22 B26 ⎥ ⎢ εy ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ spars of the wing were set to be symmetrical about the YZ-
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥
⎢ Nxy ⎥ ⎢ A16 A26 A66 B16 B26 B66 ⎥ ⎢ xy ⎥ plane. In this case, both conditions is defined to be fixed
⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎥x⎢ ⎥ (9)
⎢ Mx ⎥ ⎢ B11 B12 B16 D11 D12 D16 ⎥ ⎢ kx ⎥ support points at UX = UY = UZ = ROTX = ROTY = ROTZ =
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢M ⎥ ⎢B ⎥ ⎢k ⎥ 0.
⎣ y ⎦ ⎣ 12 B22 B26 D12 D22 D26 ⎦ ⎣ y ⎦
Mxy B16 B26 B66 D16 D26 D66 kxy 4.2. Loading condition

where; In this study, the calculation of the loads on the wing is

n
 subjected to the pressure that is distributed at the bottom
Aij = k=1
Q̄ij (hk − hk−1 ) i = 1, 2 , 6 j = 1, 2 , 6 (10) skin of the wing, as studied by Kanesan et al. [6]. The direc-
k
tions inferred as the arrow labels in the nodal coordinate
1 n
  2
Bij = Q̄ij hk − h2k−1 i = 1, 2 , 6 j = 1, 2 , 6 (11) system, where FX = FY = 0 and FZ = F. The concentrated load
2 k=1 k
is specified directly on top of main and aft spars. The loading
1 n
  3 conditions are subjected to corresponding pressure values at
Dij = Q̄ij hk − h3k−1 i = 1, 2 , 6 j = 1, 2 , 6 (12)
four different locations, as shown in Table 3 and Fig. 9. In this
3 k=1 k
case, the pressure was assigned based on the distance from
Nx and Ny are normal force per unit length; Nxy is shear force X-axis, from the root of the wing.
per unit length.
Mx and My are bending moment per unit length; Nxy is
4.3. Parametric studies
twisting moment per unit length.
Hence, the matrix of [A], [B] and [D] represent the respec-
The static structural is conducted and validated the current
tive extensional, coupling and bending stiffness of laminate.
finite element (FE) study with the available paper of simulation
The [A] relates the resultant in-plane forces to the in-plane
and experimental by Ref. [6]. Then, two parametric studies is
strains, while [D] relates the resultant bending moment to the
conducted to investigate the performance analysis of the lam-
curvature of laminate ply. [B] provides coupling effects of both
inated composite wing, which is ply orientation and tubercles
forces and moments.
design at the leading edge.

4. Finite element structural analysis 4.3.1. Parametric study I: laminate cases at different ply
orientation for normal wing
4.1. Boundary condition Firstly, the laminate cases of different ply orientation is carried
out. In this case, five types of ply orientation is prepared in
Referring to Mehta and Joshi [4], the known conditions such order to determine the significant of structural response under
as force or displacement degrees of freedom at some nodal given physical loading conditions. The first study presented
points were assigned in the finite element analysis as the the variation of ply sequence in the stackup oriented subjected

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Table 3 – Loading conditions for UAV composite wing.

Total load (kg) Spar Distance from the root of lower skin (cm)

0–30 30–60 60–90 90–120 120–150 150–180

Pressure (Pa)

40 MS 444.44 388.89 277.78 222.22 166.67 55.56

AS 166.67 166.67 111.11 111.11 55.56 55.56
41 MS 444.44 388.89 333.33 222.22 166.67 55.56
AS 166.67 166.67 111.11 111.11 55.56 55.56
42 MS 444.44 388.89 333.33 277.78 166.67 55.56
AS 166.67 166.67 111.11 111.11 55.56 55.56
43 MS 444.44 388.89 333.33 333.33 166.67 55.56
AS 166.67 166.67 111.11 111.11 55.56 55.56
44 MS 444.44 388.89 333.33 333.33 166.67 55.56
AS 222.22 166.67 111.11 111.11 55.56 55.56
45 MS 444.44 444.44 333.33 333.33 166.67 55.56
AS 222.22 166.67 111.11 111.11 55.56 55.56

Fig. 9 – Loads applied on the bottom skin of the wing.

4.4. Failure analysis

Table 4 – Laminate cases at different ply orientation.
Model Ply sequence
In ANSYS, the failure mode is subjected to strain and stress,
Stackup Sublaminate material directions, principal directions or tension and com-
pression. While the failure criteria is defined as maximum
Model 1 [0,0,0] [0,0,0]
strain, maximum stress, Tsai-Wu, Tsai Hill, Hashin, Puck, etc.
Model 2 [0,0,0] [0,90,0]
Model 3 [0,0,0] [0,45,0] [46]. Those criteria can be classified in terms safety based
Model 4 [0,0,0] [0,-45,0] on the accordant weighing factor of each failure mode. In
Model 5 [0,0,0] [0,45,90] this study, Tsai-Wu failure criterion is applied to check the
ultimate strength of a composite structure element, can be
written as [47]:
to relative angle of 0◦ . Then, the sub-laminated is the sequence
of plies based on fabrics and stacked at relative angles between
the top and bottom plies. The ply orientation is tabulated as 1 1 1 1 1 2
− 1 + − 2 + (1 )
in Table 4. ˆ 1 T ˆ 1 C ˆ 2 T ˆ 2 C ˆ 1 T − ˆ 1 C
1 2 1 2
+ (2 ) + 2 (12 )
4.3.2. Parametric study II: laminate cases at different ply ˆ 2 T − ˆ 2 C ˆ 12 (13)
orientation for spherical pattern at the leading edge of wing ⎡ ⎤
 1
skin
+2 ⎣− 1 1
x
1 2⎦  ≥ 1
1 2
The second is the different design of the wing skin, particu- 2 ˆ 1 T − ˆ 1 C ˆ 2 T − ˆ 2 C
larly at the leading edge of the wing. The wing is design using
the same airfoil with addition of spherical pattern subjected to
amplitude and wavelength. Similar process as in Section 4.3.1, where, 1 is stress in fibre direction, 2 is stress in transverse
whereby the structural response of stress and deformation is direction and 12 is shear stress, C and T is the compression
determined to critically assess and compare the performance and tensile, respectively. Using the notion of First Ply-Failure, if
of ply orientation at different design. Since Refs. [35,44,45] the ply under consideration has failed, then Eq. (9) is violated.
proved better aerodynamic performance in CFD analysis, the It is notable that both stresses can be distinguished subjected
optimum amplitude of A = 0.025c and wavelength, ␭ = 0.25c to appropriate coefficients. Noteworthy, it also can be easily
will be used in this study. incorporated in automated computational procedures.

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JMRTEC-762; No. of Pages 13
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Table 5 – Deflection results based on total load in simulation and experiment of bending test.
Total load (kg) Deflection result (mm) Difference (%) Deflection result mm) Difference (%)

Simulation Kanesan et al. [6] Current FE Analysis Experimental Kanesan et al. [6]

40 12.666 12.095 4.51 13.530 10.61

41 12.930 12.311 4.79 13.860 11.18
42 13.330 12.628 5.27 14.140 10.69
43 13.727 12.945 4.22 14.840 12.77
44 13.799 13.019 5.65 15.220 14.46
45 13.953 13.148 5.77 15.820 16.89

Furthermore, the strength ratio (S.R) also can be evaluated

Table 6 – Result of parametric study I.
in accordance with the Tsai-Wu failure theory (Eq. (13)) to
Model Results
examine the first lamina fails. The requirement verification of
the structure is based on the value of Margin of Safety (M.o.S) Stress (MPa) Displacement (mm) M.o.S
subjected to the strength ratio. Fig. 9 depicts the process of
1 73.377 13.147 −0.125
determining the failure of structure.
2 73.7 13.247 −0.125
3 73.517 12.909 0.125
4 73.403 12.918 0.875
5. Results and discussion 5 73.088 12.903 0.875

5.1. Validation with simulation and experimental of

5.2. Parametric study I
bending test by
After the validation, the highest load of 45 kg is used to deter-
Prior to further analyze the performance of laminated com-
mine its performance by changing the ply orientations of the
posite, it is important to validate the current finite element
skin plies in ANSYS ACP module. The similar loading of 45 kg
(FE) analysis conducted with available paper from [6]. Table 5
as in Table 3 is applied on the bottom skin directly on top of
shows the comparison of deflection results in simulation and
main spar and aft spar. In this study, the analysis is conducted
experiment of bending test with current FE analysis.
on five models of laminated composite wing skin, as in Table 4.
From both results in Table 5, it is observed that the differ-
Each ply sequence has superior polar properties that represent
ence of deflection results is within the range of 4–17%. Autio
the stiffness and strength in the direction to the fibers. The
et al. [48] stated that the error results given by commercial
polar properties of ply sequence is based on elastic modulus
finite element method program should be less than 20%. Nurh-
and shear modulus in accordance with the layup production
aniza et al. [49] also supported that the range of 10–25% of
plies, as depicted in Table 6.
comparison results from other finite element software. Hence,
From the observation, the reinforcement directions of the
the comparison results proved that the current FE analysis
lamina of plies, 0◦ and 90◦ present the maximum stiffness,
developed is acceptable due to the value achieved for the dis-
whereas the maximum of 45◦ is the shear modulus. Accord-
placement. Therefore, the obtained composite stack-ups of
ing to Ref. [50], the unidirectional of [0,0]n ply orientations
the FE analysis can be used for further optimization of the
may provide axial strength and stiffness, but it is more sus-
wing structure by changing the orientation of composite skin
ceptible to damage. Meanwhile, the ply orientation of [0,90]n
plies (Fig. 10).
may provide transverse strength and stiffness, which is more
damage tolerant than [0,0]n. The plies with only 0◦ and 90◦

Fig. 10 – Flowchart of failure analysis.

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JMRTEC-762; No. of Pages 13
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Fig. 11 – (a) Model 5: Result of total displacement for normal wing (b) Model 5: Result of maximum shear stress for normal
wing.

may lead to delamination due to Poisson’s mismatch. On the
other hand, the ply orientation of ±45◦ provide shear strength
and stiffness, with the combination with 0◦ or 90◦ which
is more damage tolerant and more damage resistant. Thus,
the load may carry similar oriented stackup within the lam-
inate and help to avoid any delamination under load. Due to
the anisotropic properties of lamina, these stackups are com-
monly overlapped along different directions in order to obtain
a laminate with a quasi-isotropic behavior. Model 5 with ply
sequence of stackup [0, 0, 0] and sub-laminate of [0,45,90]

Fig. 12 – (a) Polar properties for Model 1 (b)Polar properties for Model 2 (c) Polar properties for Model 3 (d) Polar properties for
Model 4 (e) Polar properties for Model 5.

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JMRTEC-762; No. of Pages 13
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showed the significant structural performance as the lowest

Table 7 – Result of parametric study II.
displacement and stress, as compared with other sequences,
Model Results
as depicts in Fig. 11(a) and (b). Furthermore, Model 5 also
showed its margin of safety more than 0 and satisfies the ratio Stress (MPa) Displacement (mm) M.o.S
of material strength to design load by having the positive value
1 40.243 8.893 −0.125
of 0.875. According to Ref. [51], if the margin is higher than 0
2 38.468 8.521 −0.125
with positive value indicated that the model can withstand 3 53.291 7.917 0.125
additional load, which is twofold than the design load. 4 38.627 8.303 0.125
From the observation, the displacement of composite UAV 5 38.861 7.903 0.875
NACA4415 occurred at the tip of the wing, whereas the stress
is found nearer to the root of the wing. In this case, Model
5 of sublaminate [0,45,90] showed the lowest displacement Similar as normal wing, the orientation of quasi-isotropic
and stress on the skin plies compared to the similar ori- behavior proved that the combination of 0◦ , 45◦ and 90◦ is
ented sublaminated-plies of [0,0,0]. Though the ply sequence significantly affect the strength of the wing structure. Previ-
of [0,45,0] has small difference in displacement, the maxi- ous researches by [7,52,53] also supported that quasi-isotropic
mum shear stress of [0,45,90] showed the lowest result. The layup proved its superiority in stiffness and strength in vari-
construction of the orientation composite plies showed the ation of direction of axial, transverse and shear. Hence, the
unique effect on structural performance of the wing, which is obtained value of Model 5 is found to be within the limit of
acceptable to withstand the design load given. M.o.S of 0.875 in positive value, whereby the stresses at the
wing skin indicate that the structural component of the wing
5.3. Parametric study II is reliable and safe.
Fig. 13(a) and (b) depict both results of total displacement
From the study of laminate cases at different ply orientation and maximum shear stress for tubercles wing, whereby the
for normal wing, the study is further up on the orientation displacement is found at the wing tip and the stress occurred
for spherical pattern at the leading edge of wing skin. The at the wing root. Most of the displacement and stresses for all
cloth formed from the laminated composite is molded in a models occurred at the same location, but differ in terms of
double curvature that follow the spherical shapes in form of its performance to withstand the design load. The orientation
pattern along the leading edge of the wing. Since both designs of [0◦ /(0◦ / 45◦ / 90◦ )/0◦ ] showed better structural performances,
applied the similar modelling of layered composite materi- as compared to other models.
als, the tubercles also shared the similar polar properties as Nonetheless, from the performance analyses of composite
in Fig. 12 (a)–(e) subjected to respective models. The result of ply orientation between normal and tubercles wing, the Model
parametric study II is in Table 7. 5 of [0◦ /(0◦ / 45◦ / 90◦ )/0◦ ] of both designed is selected to deter-
From the result of different orientation of composite lami- mine the optimal design for UAV wing. The result is tabulated
nates on tubercles at the leading edge of wing, Model 5 showed in Table 8.
the lowest value of total displacement with 7.903 mm, with From the observation, the maximum stress acting tangent
lower value of maximum shear stress compared to others. to the skin of the normal wing is 73.088 MPa. However, 45.83%

Fig. 13 – (a) Model 5: result of total displacement for tubercles wing. (b) Model 5: result of maximum shear stress for
tubercles wing.

Please cite this article in press as: Basri EI, et al. Performance analysis of composite ply orientation in aeronautical application of unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) NACA4415 wing. J Mater Res Technol. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.06.044
JMRTEC-762; No. of Pages 13
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Table 8 – Structural performance between normal and tubercles wing of NACA4415.
Design configurations Normal wing
Structural parameters
Total displacement (mm) 12.903
Maximum stress (MPa) 73.088
Shear elastic strain (mm/mm) 0.0017243
Margin of safety (MoS) 0.875
reduction of maximum stress is obtained if the similar ori-
entation applied on the tubercles design at the leading edge.
On top of that, the tubercles design also showed a reduc-
tion of 38.75% difference of total displacement as compared
to normal wing. Interestingly, tubercles design also showed
an increase value of 25.11% difference of shear elastic strain.
The margin of safety observed for both conditions under static
loading are less than 1, where tubercles has positive value of
0.125 and normal wing stated of 0.875 with positive value. This
is a reasonable safety as it proves that the wing will not fail
under the load.
In overall, various factor contributed to the difference of
structural performance between both design conditions. The
variation in fibre orientation at the same skin thickness may
lead to variation in the maximum stress, which is either
increase or decrease. This is due to technique of stacking the
ply, whereby the similarly oriented plies responsive to dam-
age subjected to the load. The type of the material used in
one laminate also plays important role in determining the
structural response subjected to the loading. For instance, the
laminate with more than two type of composite materials
is more complex in determining its significant effect on the
strength compared to the laminate with less than two mate-
rials. Therefore, the implication of composite failure criterion
references
for strength performance is important to significantly differ-
ent lamina strength whereby the structural geometry needs
to acknowledge the margin of safety accordingly.
6. Conclusion
The influence of the ply orientation on the composite laminate
of NACA4415 UAV wing is evaluated. The analytic predic-
tions show that the stress state that develops in variation
fibre orientation with angle-ply has a significant effect on
the strength. Two different design at the leading edge of the
wing is presented, which is normal wing with clean airfoil at
the leading edge and tubercle wing with spherical pattern at
the leading edge. From the finite element analysis, the study
is validated with the available research paper of the same
airfoil of NACA4415 comparing both simulation and experi-
ment. The current study of finite element analysis showed the
obtained value of total displacement is in acceptable range.
Hence, the selected loading condition is chose to further the
study towards determining the performance analysis under
variation of ply orientation. The obtained structural perfor-
mance from the normal wing is compared with the tubercle
wing. Both conditions proved that the plies orientation of
[0◦ /(0◦ / 45◦ / 90◦ )/0◦ ] from Model 5 has better structural per-
formance compared to other. Meanwhile, from the optimal
design perspective, wing with tubercle design at the leading
Please cite this article in press as: Basri EI, et al. Performance analysis of composite ply orientation in aeronautical application of unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) NACA4415 wing. J Mater Res Technol. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.06.044
Tubercles wing Difference (%)
7.903 38.75
38.861 46.83
0.002157 25.11
0.125 –
edge showcased a reduction of 38.75% and 45.83% difference
of total displacement and maximum stress, respectively. For
further study, the wing with tubercles design at the lead-
ing edge, whereby the integration of manufacturing cost into
the wing structural optimization can be improved from the
determination of optimal set of minimum structural weight
and manufacturing cost by incorporating several optimiza-
tion procedures such as the parametric geometry definition,
generating 3D CAD model, generating finite element method,
structural dimension optimization, cost estimation and layout
optimization, with the aid of computational software.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by UPM under GP-IPS grant, 9647200.
The authors would like to express their gratitude and sincere
appreciation to Department of Aerospace Engineering, Fac-
ulty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Laboratory
of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and
Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia (HICOE) for
the close collaboration in this work.
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