Composite Structures Jan-Apr 2016

Asst 1 Minimisation of shear distortion under combined loading

Consider a boron-epoxy laminate with the following properties:

EL=200 GPa, ET=20 GPa, LT=0.3, GLT=10GPa, Xt=Xc=1364 MPa, Yt=Yc=44.8MPa

The total thickness=1mm. The loads are Nx and Nxy alone with Nx=2Nxy. (This could
be for the top panel of a box-beam under bending and twisting moments, and the
objective is to minimize the twist deformation.)

The following lay-ups are examined here with the objective of minimizing the shear
strain xy. Also the maximum allowable loads are determined for each case, using a
first-ply failure criterion and the maximum stress theory. It is assumed that no ply
fails in shear.

Layup (xy/Nx ) allowable Nx Failure location

mm/N N/mm
(25) 0.00001010 209.49 25 deg ply
(0@t/30@2.5t)s 0.00001428 177.99 30 deg ply
(0@t/25@2.5t)s 0.00001623 192.06 25 deg ply
(0@t/25@2t)s 0.00001715 189.98 25 deg ply
(0@t/25@1.5t)s 0.00001850 187.09 25 deg ply
(0,30)s 0.00001893 170.30 30 deg ply
(0,25)s 0.00002076 182.51 25 deg ply
(0,45)s 0.00002247 137.55 Both 0 and 45 plies
simultaneously
(0@2t/25@t)s 0.00002569 172.67 25 deg ply
(0@t/15@2t)s 0.00002740 186.80 15 deg ply
(0,15)s 0.00003026 177.60 15 deg ply
(0) 0.00005000 119.54 0 deg ply

Notes: 1) Layups are listed in the order of decreasing xy.

2) Allowable Nx does not decrease in the same order.
3) For this specific load case, (25) is best for both shear minimisation
and load carrying capacity; this may not be true for other load cases (i.e
Nx/Nxy2) where one has to decide on a suitable tradeoff.