Effect of transverse cracks on the mechanical properties of angle-ply composites laminates

A modified shear lag analysis, taking into account the notion of stress perturbation function, is employed to evaluate the effect of transverse cracks on the stiffness reduction in [±θ_n/90_m]_S angle-ply laminated composites. Effects of number of 90° layers and number of ±θ layers on the laminate stiffness have also been studied. The present results represent well the dependence of the degradation of mechanical properties on the fibre orientation angle of the outer layers, the number of cracked cross-ply layers and the number of uncracked outer ±θ layers in the laminate.