Structural Analysis of Composite Laminates using Analytical and Numerical Techniques

Abstract

Abstract.A laminated composite material consists of different layers of matrix and fibres. Its properties can vary a lot with each layer's or ply's orientation, material property and the number of layers itself. The present paper focuses on a novel approach of incorporating an analytical method to arrive at a preliminary ply layup order of a composite laminate, which acts as a feeder data for the further detailed analysis done on FEA tools. The equations used in our MATLAB are based on analytical study code and supply results that are remarkably close to the final optimized layup found through extensive FEA analysis with a high probabilistic degree. This reduces significant computing time and saves considerable FEA processing to obtain efficient results quickly. The result output by our method also provides the user with the conditions that predicts the successive failure sequence of the composite plies, a result option which is not even available in popular FEM tools. The predicted results are further verified by testing the laminates in the laboratory and the results are found in good agreement.

Progresses and Challenges of Composite Laminates in Thin-Walled Structures: A Systematic Review

“…Its properties can vary alot with each layer or ply’s orientation, material property and the number of layers itself. There are different analysis methods for the structures; in particular, the finite element method was found to be a more successful analyzing method of the structures considering different modes of shape analysis. , Additionally, specific analysis of modes is available to define the stresses and strains via buckling analysis, failure mode, etc.…”