Nonlinear Elastic Behavior of Unidirectional Composite Laminae

Abstract

Complementary elastic energy density is used to derive a stress-strain relation, which is linear in uniaxial loadings in the longitudinal and trans verse directions, but nonlinear in shear. In the case of composite laminae under plane stress, one additional fourth-order constant is introduced. Comparison is shown between the present theory and experimental data on off-axis tests.