Edge Delamination in Angle-Ply Composite Laminates.

Abstract

ion has caused severe concern in the design and analysis of advanced composite materials and structures. Due to its complex nature, very limited knowledge for the problem is currently available. It involves not only geometric and material discontinuities b ut also inherently coupled mode I, I1 and 111 fracture in the layered anisotropic system. Based on complex-variable stress potentials in the a nisotropic elasticity theory and eigenfunction expansion, exact o rders of the cracktip stress singularity and complete field solutions are obtained. Results are given for edge delaminated, angle-ply c omposites subjected to uniform axial extension for illustrative purposes. Effects of geometric, lamination, and crack variables are determined.