Response and failure analysis of a graphite-epoxy laminate containing terminating internal plies

A change in laminate thickness due to terminating internal plies acts as a stress riser for both intralamina and interlaminar stresses. This laminate configuration is referred to as a ply drop. The linear elastic, three-dimensional stress distributions in the vicinity of a ply drop are determined for a graphite-epoxy laminate subject to axial tension and compression by a finite element analysis. It is shown that the interlaminar stresses have a maximum magnitude at the ply drop-off, and decrease proceeding away from the drop-off. Two modes of failure initiation are analyzed. In the pure resin regions surrounding the dropped plies, the maximum stress criterion is assumed to govern failure. The Tsai-Wu criterion is used for intralamina failure prediction. The influence of two laminate lay-ups and a variety of ply drop geometries on the response and failure are presented.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace and Ocean Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Aerospace and Ocean Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1985

Author dc:creator

• Kemp, Brian Lee

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/91127

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/91127