The Strengths of Fiber Reinforced Composite Bends

Abstract

An analysis is presented for calculating the stresses and strains in bends made of fiber reinforced composites and for estimating the strengths of bends. The stress field is calculated by a finite element method. The strength is predicted using the Tsai-Hill criterion for inplane failure and the Chang-Springer criterion for out of plane failure. Results are presented which illustrate the effects of geometry and ply orientation on the strength and on the mode of failure.