Structural integrity of polymer composite reinforced with fly ash and himalayan agave fiber using FEA

The increasing demand for eco-friendly, strong, lightweight, and reliable materials led to the development of polymer composites with reinforced natural fibers. This study modelled a beam of square cross-section by assuming that it is made up of polymer composite reinforced with fly ash and Himalayan agave fiber. The composite is further analysed for structural integrity and stability. Therefore, the structural analysis is carried out with cantilever beam condition and a uniformly distributed transverse load on the top surface of the beam structure. It is found that the beam generates increasing stress and deformation value with increasing load value. Further, vibration analysis has been conducted to determine the mode shapes and the natural frequency of vibration for the first six modes of vibration. The beam is subjected to one side fixed and both sides fixed boundary conditions and it is found that the composite square beam developed a degenerate mode in both cases, which may be due to the material properties, geometric symmetry, and inadequate boundary conditions. Finally, in the future, the results of this study could be used to determine the safer working conditions while working with this composite material.