Stiffness reduction of cracked general symmetric laminates using a variational approach

In this paper, stiffness reduction of general symmetric laminates containing a uniform distribution of matrix cracks in a single orientation is analyzed. An admissible stress field is considered, which satisfies equilibrium and all the boundary and continuity conditions. This stress field has been used in conjunction with the principle of minimum complementary energy to get the effective stiffness matrix of a cracked general symmetric laminate. Natural boundary conditions have been derived from the variational principle to overcome the limitations of the existing variational methods on the analysis of general symmetric laminates. Therefore, the capability of analyzing cracked symmetric laminates using the variational approach has been enhanced significantly. It has been shown that the method provides a rigorous lower bound for the stiffness matrix of a cracked laminate, which is very important for practical applications. Results derived from the developed method for the properties of the cracked laminates showed an excellent agreement with experimental data and with those obtained from McCartney’s stress transfer model. The differences of the developed model with McCartney’s model are discussed in detail. It can be emphasized that the current approach is simpler than McCartney’s model, which needs an averaging procedure to obtain the governing equations. Moreover, it has been shown that the existing variational models are special cases of the current formulation.     

Cohesive modeling of transverse cracking in laminates under in-plane loading with a single layer of elements per ply

This study aims to bridge the gap between classical understanding of transverse cracking in cross-ply laminates and recent computational methods for the modeling of progressive laminate failure. Specifically, the study investigates under what conditions a finite element model with cohesive X-FEM cracks can reproduce the in situ effect for the ply strength. It is shown that it is possible to do so with a single element across the thickness of the ply, provided that the interface stiffness is properly selected. The optimal value for this interface stiffness is derived with an analytical shear lag model. It is also shown that, when the appropriate statistical variation of properties has been applied, models with a single element through the thickness of a ply can predict the density of transverse matrix cracks.     

A semi-analytical approach for the non-linear large deflection analysis of laminated rectangular plates under general out-of-plane loading

A semi-analytical approach for the geometrically non-linear analysis of rectangular laminated plates with general inplane and out-of-plane boundary conditions under a general distribution of out-of-plane loads is developed. The analysis is based on the elastic thin plate theory with geometrically non-linear von Kármán strains. The solution of the non-linear partial differential equations is reduced to an iterative sequential solution of non-linear ordinary differential equations using the multi-term extended Kantorovich method. The efficiency, accuracy, and convergence of the proposed method are examined through a comparison with other semi-analytical methods and with finite element analyses. The capabilities of the approach and its applicability to the non-linear large deflection analysis of plate structures are demonstrated through various numerical examples. Emphasis is placed on combinations of lamination, boundary, and loading conditions that cannot be analyzed using alternative semi-analytical methods.