A viscoelastic analysis has been developed to investigate stress relaxation and creep in a multi-layered composite cylinder subjected to rotation. The analysis accounts for ply-by-ply variation of material properties, fiber orientations, and density gradients through the thickness of cylinders. A closed form solution based on the corresponding elastic problem is derived for a generalized plane strain state in a thick-walled multi-layered cylinder. Laplace transform is then applied to obtain the numerical solution of the viscoelastic problem. The paper illustrates the derivation of the analytical model and solution procedure. A numerical simulation shows substantial creep and stress relaxation in thick-walled cylinders at an elevated temperature. Viscoelastic effects of composite can result in a drastic change of stress and strain profiles in a cylinder over a period of time, which is critical in terms of structural durability for application such as energy storage flywheels.
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