A

THEORY OF COMPOSITES DESIGN

2008
STEPHEN W. TSAI
Professor Research Emeritus
Stanford University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1

Section 2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5

2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.10
2.11
2.12
2.13
2.14
2.15

Section 3
3.1
3.2
3.3

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
DEMAND AND USAGE OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS
DESIGNING WITH COMPOSITES
OUR APPROACH
COVERAGE OF THIS BOOK
2008 UPDATE

A 1-1
A 1-2
A 1-3
A 1-4
A 1-5
A 1-7

STRESS-STRAIN RELATIONS
OUR NOTATIONS
CONTRACTED NOTATION
CONTRACTED STIFFNESS
CONTRACTED COMPLIANCE
GENERALIZED HOOKES LAW
TRICLINIC SYMMETRY
MONOCLINIC SYMMETRY
ORTHOTROPIC SYMMETRY
TRANSVERSELY ISOTROPIC SYMMETRY
ISOTROPY
SUMMARY OF MATERIAL SYMMETRIES
ENGINEERING CONSTANTS
STIFFNESS IN TERMS OF ENIGNEERING CONSTANTS
PLANE STRESS
PLANE STRAIN
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS FOR ELASTIC MODULI
STRESS AND STRAIN TRANSFORMATION EQUATIONS
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS IN STRESS AND STRAIN
CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

A 2-1
A 2-2
A 2-3
A 2-4
A 2-6
A 2-6
A 2-7
A 2-8
A 2-8
A 2-9
A 2-9
A 2-10
A 2-12
A 2-13
A 2-15
A 2-17
A 2-18
A 2-22
A 2-24
A 2-24

PLY STIFFNESS
TRANSFORMATION OF STIFFNESS
TRANSFORMATION OF COMPLIANCE
TRANSFORMATION IN THREE DIMENSIONS
Ai

A 3-1
A 3-5
A 3-6

STEPHEN W. TSAI

1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6

THEORY OF COMPOSITES DESIGN

THEORY OF COMPOSITES DESIGN

A
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11

Section 4

JIN W. PARK & PRANAV

SHAH
THEORYD.OF
COMPOSITES DESIGN

4.1
4.2

4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
4.12
4.13
4.14
4.15

Section 5
5.1

5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11

Section 6

MI-MAC/ FEA

6.1

6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7

MULTIPLE ANGLE TRANSFORMATION

MATRIX INVERSION AND ENGINEERING CONSTANTS
ELASTIC CONSTANTS OF TYPICAL COMPOSITE PLIES
QUASI-ISOTROPIC CONSTANTS
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS IN PLY CONSTANTS
TRANSFORMATION STIFFNESS OF TYPICAL COMPOSITES
CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

A 3-8
A 3-10
A 3-12
A 3-14
A 3-16
A 3-17
A 3-21
A 3-22

IN-PLANE STIFFNESS
LAMINATE CODE
LAMINATED PLATE THEORY
MATRIX INVERSION
IN-PLANE ENGINEERING CONSTANTS
STIFFNESS BY MULTIPLE ANGLE METHOD
EXAMPLE OF CASH REGISTER METHOD
EXAMPLE OF RULE OF MIXTURES METHOD
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS IN IN-PLANE STIFFNESS
TRANSFORMATION AND INVARIANTS OF IN-PLANE MODULI
PLY STRESS AND PLY STRAIN
RESIDUAL STRESSES
RESIDUAL STRAINS AFTER CURING
EXPANSION COEFFICIENTS
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS IN EXPANSIONS
SELECTION OF LAMINATE STIFFNESS BY LAMRANK
CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

A 4-2
A 4-2
A 4-3
A 4-3
A 4-4
A 4-5
A 4-6
A 4-7
A 4-14
A 4-15
A 4-16
A 4-18
A 4-19
A 4-20
A 4-22
A 4-26
A 4-27

FLEXURAL STIFFNESS OF SYMMETRIC LAMINATES

LAMINATED PLATE THEORY
MATRIX INVERSION
ENGINEERING CONSTANTS
FLEXURAL STIFFNESS EVALUATION
SANDWICH PLATES
TRANSFORMATION OF FLEXURAL MODULI
HOMOGENIZATION OF LAMINATED PLATES
STACKING SEQUENCE EFFECTS
PLY STRESS AND PLY STRAIN
BEAMS
TUBING
CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

A 5-1
A 5-4
A 5-4
A 5-4
A 5-6
A 5-8
A 5-9
A 5-11
A 5-14
A 5-16
A 5-17
A 5-18
A 5-18

STIFFNESS OF GENERAL LAMINATES

LAMINATED PLATE THEORY
PARTIAL INVERSION
LAMINATE STIFFNESS AND COMPLIANCE
REPEATED SUB-LAMINATES
UNSYMMETRIC CROSS-PLY LAMINATES
OTHER UNSYMMETRIC LAMINATES
HYGROTHERMAL WARPAGE
THIN WALL CONSTRUCTION
STIFFENED PANELS

A 6-1
A 6-3
A 6-3
A 6-4
A 6-7
A 6-10
A 6-13
A 6-15
A 6-17

STEPHEN W. TSAI

THEORY OF COMPOSITES DESIGN

A ii

A
THEORY OF COMPOSITES DESIGN

Section 7
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.9
7.10
7.11
7.12
7.13

Section 8

Section 9
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5

9.6
9.7
9.8

Section 10
10.1
10.2
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7

A 6-20
A 6-20

MICROMECHANICS
BACKGROUND
SPECIFIC GRAVITY, MASS FRACTIONS AND VOIDS
LONGITUDINAL YOUNGS MODULUS AND POISSONS RATIO
TRANSVERSE MODULUS
LONGITUDIANL SHEAR MODULUS
EXPANSION COEFFICIENTS
EFFECTIVE STIFFNESS OF DEGRADED PLIES
HYGROTHERMAL EFFECTS
MICROMECHANICS OF STRENGTH
MICROMECHANICS OF WOVEN COMPOSITES
MICROMECHANICS OF RANDOM COMPOSITES
CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

A 7-1
A 7-3
A 7-3
A 7-4
A 7-6
A 7-8
A 7-9
A 7-11
A 7-13
A 7-15
A 7-16
A 7-17
A 7-17

FAILURE CRITERIA
INTRODUCTION
BASIC STRENGTH DATA
QUADRATIC CRITERION IN STRESS SPACE
FAILURE MODE INTERACTIONS
ADMISSIBLE VALUES FOR THE INTERACTION TERM
QUADRATIC CRITERION IN STRAIN SPACE
TRANSFORMATION OF FAILURE ENVELOPES
STRENGTH/STRESS RATIO AND FAILURE INDEX
CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

A 8-1
A 8-2
A 8-3
A 8-7
A 8-9
A 8-13
A 8-15
A 8-17
A 8-21
A 8-21

STRENGTHS OF LAMINATES
FIRST PLY FAILURE ENVELOPES
PLY-BY-PLY STRESS AND STRENGTH ANALYSIS
UNIAXIAL STRENGTH OF ANGLE-PLY LAMINATES
HYGROTHERMAL STRESSES
STRENGTH AFTER FIRST PLY FAILURE
PROGRESSIVE FAILURES
INTACT AND DEGRADED PLIES
SELECTIVE DEGRADATION BY MICRO CRACKING
PROGRESSIVE FAILURES OF A [0/90] LAMINATE
ULTIMATE FAILURE ENVELOPES
PROGRESSIVE VERSUS SIMULTANEOUS DEGRADATION
CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

A 9-1
A 9-3
A 9-5
A 9-6
A 9-8
A 9-9
A 9-10
A 9-11
A 9-12
A 9-14
A 9-14
A 9-16
A 9-16

MIC-MAC/LITE
OVERALL DESIGN
CONTROL MODULE
PLY DATABASE
PLY DATA FOR LAMINATES
LAMINATE STIFFNESS
STRESS ANALYSIS MODULE
PLY-BY-PLY ON-AXIS STRESS

A iii

A 10-1
A 10-2
A 10-4
A 10-5
A 10-5
A 10-6
A 10-7

STEPHEN W. TSAI

8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7
8.8
8.9
8.10

CONCLUSIONS
PROBLEMS

THEORY OF COMPOSITES DESIGN

6.8
6.9

JIN W. PARK & PRANAV

SHAH
THEORYD.OF
COMPOSITES DESIGN
MI-MAC/ FEA

10.8
10.9
10.10

10.11

MAXIMUM STRESS AND MAXIMUM STRAIN CRITERIA

QUADRATIC FAILURE CRITERIA: TSAI-WU AND HASHIN
SAMPLE PROBLEMS
RECOVERING PLY DATA
OFF-AXIS PROPERTIES OF [0]
CROSS-PLY LAMINATES
BIAXIAL LOADING
CONCLUSIONS

Appendix A A

LIST OF PRINCIPAL SYMBOLS

Appendix A C

PROPERTIES OF TYPICAL COMPOSITES

TABLES AC-1
TABLES AC-2
TABLES AC-3
TABLES AC-4

ELASTIC CONSTANTS IN SI
ELASTIC CONSTNATS IN ENGLISH
STRENGTH PARAMETERS IN SI
STRENGTH PARAMETERS IN ENGLISH

A 10-7
A 10-8
A 10-9
A 10-10
A 10-11
A 10-11
A 10-13
A 10-14
A A-1

A C-1
A C-2
A C-3
A C-4

INDEX

Our favorite Focus Group: CDW-9, Shanghai, April 2004 with Hongneng Cai, Mr. and Mrs.
Iwashita of KIT, Ran and Jane Kim, Iris Tsai, Sangwook, Eunmi and Amy Sihn, Dick and
Kristy Christensen, Sung Ha, Noriko Miyano (head bowed), Lydia Tay, Yves-Henri and
Francois Grunvald, Ms. Xiaobing Tong, and Francis Collombet

STEPHEN W. TSAI

THEORY OF COMPOSITES DESIGN