The Strength Prediction of Composite Laminates Containing a Circular Hole

Abstract

The notched tensile strength of composite laminates was examined. The behavior and prediction of unidirectional off-axis, angle ply, and [0/ ± θ]s laminates is discussed. It was found that good predictions for off-axis laminates can be obtained since the same failure mode occurs in such laminates. Similar results were also obtained for the [0/ ± θ]s laminates. However, for angle-ply laminates, accurate predictions were not achieved because of the diversity of failure modes among the configurations tested. For fiber dominated laminates, a method for determining the characteristic dimension for the average stress criterion is presented. Moreover, the notched strength of quasi-isotropic composite laminates loaded at an angle φ to the material x axis was investigated. Good correlation between experimental and predicted values was obtained.