Stress Analysis of Finite Laminated Composite Plate with Discontinuities

Abstract

The plate like structural components made of laminated composite materials are widely used in various engineering applications because of their higher strength to weight ratio and tailor made material properties. Special shaped cutouts are made in a plate for certain operational requirements. These cutouts raise the stress concentration in a plate when subjected to various loading. The high stress concentration around cutout may lead to the catastrophic failure of the component. To understand the catastrophe of the components, it is necessary to estimate the stresses in the plate weakened by a hole. Stress distribution around the cutout in infinite plate is obtained by many researchers using Muskhelishvili’s complex variable approach for the remote loading. When the size of plate is finite and the load is applied on the near edge, the same results are not valid. An attempt is made here to obtain the stress field around different shaped hole in anisotropic finite plate when subjected to inplane loading. Stress distribution around various shaped hole in finite anisotropic and isotropic plate is obtained using complex variable method in conjunction with boundary collocation method. Some of the results are compared with finite element solutions. Effect of various parameters like plate size, hole geometry, loading condition, material properties, loading angle, fiber orientation, stacking sequence etc. are also studied and presented.