Compressive failure of notched uniply composite laminates

• Published in: Composites. Part B, Engineering Engineering, 1998, Vol.29 (1), p.75-80
• Main Authors: Waas, Anthony M., Junghyun, Ahn, Khamseh, Amir R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Laminates; micro-mechanics; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Technology of polymers
• ISSN: 1359-8368; 1879-1069
• DOI: 10.1016/S1359-8368(97)00012-7

A finite element analysis (FEA) is used to develop a micromechanics-based failure initiation predictive capability for analyzing notched composite laminates loaded in compression. In order to develop the model, results from a previous experimental study that investigated compression failure mechanisms in special ‘uniply’ composite laminates were used as motivation. The FEA model and geometry were defined based on these experimental results that showed failure to initiate in the form of a narrow kink band near the hole edge and to be confined in extent to a distance within one half of the hole radius. A finite size rectangular region adjacent to the cutout edge corresponding in size to the area in which the kink banding occurs is analyzed. The values of boundary loads on this rectangular region that correspond to kink banding is related to the far-field loading on the boundaries of the specimen via an available closed form analysis for orthotropic laminates. Good agreement is reported between experiment and analysis.