Three-dimensional stress analysis of plain weave composites

Techniques were developed and described for performing three-dimensional finite element analysis of plain weave composites. Emphasized here are aspects of the analysis which are different from analysis of traditional laminated composites, such as the mesh generation and representative unit cells. The analysis was used to study several different variations of plain weaves which illustrate the effects of tow waviness on composite moduli, Poisson's ratios, and internal strain distributions. In-plane moduli decreased almost linearly with increasing tow waviness. The tow waviness was shown to cause large normal and shear strain concentrations in composites subjected to uniaxial load. These strain concentrations may lead to earlier damage initiation than occurs in traditional cross-ply laminates

Three-dimensional analysis of a postbuckled embedded delamination

Delamination growth caused by local buckling of a delaminated group of plies was investigated. Delamination growth was assumed to be governed by the strain energy release rates, G(1), G(2) and G(3). The strain energy release rates were calculated using a geometrically nonlinear three-dimensional finite element analysis. The program is described and several checks of the analysis are discussed. Based on a limited parametric study, the following conclusions were reached: (1) the problem is definitely mixed mode (in some cases G(1) is larger than G(2), for other cases the opposite is true); (2) in general, there is a large gradient in the strain energy release rates along the delamination front; (3) the locations of maximum G(1) and G(2) depend on the delamination shape and the applied strain; (4) the mode 3 component was negligible for all cases considered; and (5) the analysis predicted that parts of the delamination would overlap. The results presented did not impose contact constraints to prevent overlapping. Further work is needed to determine the effects of allowing the overlapping

Experimental and analytical study of fatigue damage in notched graphite/epoxy laminates

Both tension and compression fatigue behaviors were investigated in four notched graphite/epoxy laminates. After fatigue loading, specimens were examined for damage type and location using visual inspection, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, ultrasonic C-scans, and X-radiography. Delamination and ply cracking were found to be the dominant types of fatigue damage. In general, ply cracks did not propagate into adjacent plies of differing fiber orientation. To help understand the varied fatigue observations, the interlaminar stress distribution was calculated with finite element analysis for the regions around the hole and along the straight free edge. Comparison of observed delamination locations with the calculated stresses indicated that both interlaminar shear and peel stresses must be considered when predicting delamination. The effects of the fatigue cycling on residual strength and stiffness were measured for some specimens of each laminate type. Fatigue loading generally caused only small stiffness losses. In all cases, residual strengths were greater than or equal to the virgin strengths

User's manual for GAMNAS: Geometric and Material Nonlinear Analysis of Structures

GAMNAS (Geometric and Material Nonlinear Analysis of Structures) is a two dimensional finite-element stress analysis program. Options include linear, geometric nonlinear, material nonlinear, and combined geometric and material nonlinear analysis. The theory, organization, and use of GAMNAS are described. Required input data and results for several sample problems are included

Superposition method for analysis of free-edge stresses

Superposition techniques were used to transform the edge stress problem for composite laminates into a more lucid form. By eliminating loads and stresses not contributing to interlaminar stresses, the essential aspects of the edge stress problem are easily recognized. Transformed problem statements were developed for both mechanical and thermal loads. Also, a technique for approximate analysis using a two dimensional plane strain analysis was developed. Conventional quasi-three dimensional analysis was used to evaluate the accuracy of the transformed problems and the approximate two dimensional analysis. The transformed problems were shown to be exactly equivalent to the original problems. The approximate two dimensional analysis was found to predict the interlaminar normal and shear stresses reasonably well

Strain-energy release rate analysis of a laminate with a postbuckled delamination

The objectives are to present the derivation of the new virtual crack closure technique, evaluate the accuracy of the technique, and finally to present the results of a limited parametric study of laminates with a postbuckled delamination. Although the new virtual crack closure technique is general, only homogeneous, isotropic laminates were analyzed. This was to eliminate the variation of flexural stiffness with orientation, which occurs even for quasi-isotropic laminates. This made it easier to identify the effect of geometrical parameters on G. The new virtual crack closure technique is derived. Then the specimen configurations are described. Next, the stress analyses is discussed. Finally, the virtual crack closure technique is evaluated and then used to calculate the distribution of G along the delamination front of several laminates with a postbuckled delamination

Buckling of a sublaminate in a quasi-isotropic composite laminate

The buckling of an elliptic delamination embedded near the surface of a thick quasi-isotropic laminate was predicted. The thickness of the delaminated ply group (the sublaminate) was assumed to be small compared to the total laminate thickness. Finite-element and Rayleigh-Ritz methods were used for the analyses. The Rayleigh-Ritz method was found to be simple, inexpensive, and accurate, except for highly anisotropic delaminated regions. Effects of delamination shape and orientation, material anisotropy, and layup on buckling strains were examined. Results show that: (1) the stress state around the delaminated region is biaxial, which may lead to buckling when the laminate is loaded in tension; (2) buckling strains for multi-directional fiber sublaminates generally are bounded by those for the 0 deg and 90 deg unidirectional sublaminates; and (3) the direction of elongation of the sublaminate that has the lowest buckling strain correlates with the delamination growth direction

Fatigue damage of notched boron/epoxy laminates under constant amplitude loading

Fatigue damage in (0, + or - 45) and (0, + or - 45,90) boron/epoxy laminates was studied with X-ray radiography and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, limited tests for residual strength and stiffness were performed. The results of this study suggest that in boron/epoxy laminates the 45-degree plies play a key role in the fatigue process of boron/epoxy laminates that contain them. The fatigue process in the + or - 45-degree plies starts as intralaminar matrix cracks

Compressible Turbulence Measurement in the Mixing Layer of an Adiabatic Normal Slot Injection into Supersonic Flow

In this study mean flow and compressible turbulence measurements were taken at a station x = 72W downstream of the injection, where W is the injector throat width, of an adiabatic 2-D Mach 1.6 normal slot injection into a Mach 2.9 flow. Data were collected using a conventional Pitot probe, a cone-static probe, and multiple overheat cross-wire anemometry. In addition, schlieren and shadowgraph flow visualization was used to investigate the flow structure at both the injection point and at the downstream data collection point. From these measurements, mass flux component turbulence intensities of 8% to 10% were seen. The total temperature fluctuation was shown to be 6%, which was higher than expected for this adiabatic case. It was also determined that the incompressible component of the Reynolds shear stress accounted for 75% of the total Reynolds shear stress. Another important observation was that the density fluctuation turbulence intensity peaked near the freestream edge of the mixing layer. The turbulent dissipation of kinetic energy was most likely the cause of this peak

A new look at numerical analyses of free-edge stresses in composite laminates

The edge stress problem for a + or - 45 deg graphite/epoxy laminate was examined. The reliability of the displacement formulated finite element method in analyzing the edge stress problem was investigated. Analyses of two well known elasticity problems, one involving a stress discontinuity and one a singularity, showed that the finite element analysis yields accurate stress distributions everywhere except in two elements closest to the stress discontinuity of singularity. Stress distributions for a + or - 45 deg laminate showed the same behavior near the singularity found in the well known problems with exact solutions. The displacement formulated finite element method appears to be a highly accurate technique for calculating interlaminar stress in composite laminates. The disagreement among the numerical methods was attributed to the unsymmetric stress tensor at the singularity