The Contact Behavior Between Laminated Composite Plates and Rigid Spheres

Abstract

The contact behavior between a composite laminate and a rigid sphere is discussed in this paper using a method derived from the three-dimensional anisotropic elasticity theory. Response of the plate and the force-indentation ( F − α ) relationship were obtained by constructing an exact Green’s function of the laminate. Agreement between the prediction and the experimental data reported by others is excellent before laminates are damaged. The F - α relationship is approximately proportional to the out-of-plane Young’s modulus and is influenced by the plate thickness. The effects of changing the in-place Young’s moduli, all the shear moduli, stacking sequences and span of the laminates are insignificant unless identation is large. Further, the modified Hertz law underestimates the contact force for the same indentation.