Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Finite element and micromechanical analysis of glass/epoxy laminated

composite with different orientations
Narendra Kumar Jha a,⇑, Santosh Kumar a, Amit Tyagi a, Dhirendra Kumar Jha b, Chandra Shekhar Jha c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute Of Technology (BHU), Varanasi 221005, India
b
Department of Electronics & Communication Engg., Indian Institute of Information Technology, Ranchi 834010, India
c
Department of Language, Kendriya Vidyalaya Air Force Station, Darbhanga, Bihar 846005, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present investigation deals with the calculation of best property using RVE and Python code and uti-
Received 1 April 2020 lizing these properties for the efficient design of multi-directional Glass/Epoxy laminated composites.
Received in revised form 18 April 2020 With the help of finite element software ABAQUS, a 3dimensional model has been developed which gives
Accepted 11 May 2020
the idea of mechanical strength and failure strain of the laminated composite. 10 ply Glass/Epoxy lami-
Available online xxxx
nated composite specimens with various orientation angle were analyzed for the strength and displace-
ment. Uni-directional laminates gives the best mechanical property where as angle ply laminates shows
Keywords:
the maximum Von-mises stresses. Further, parametric study shows the dependency of ply orientation
Glass fiber reinforced polymer composite
Angle ply
and reinforcing material on strength and stiffnesses of laminated composite material. There is fairly good
Cross ply agreement was obtained between predicted results with the available theoretical and experimental data
Stacking sequence in the literature.
Ply orientation reinforcing material Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Aspects of Materials Science and Engineering.

1. Introduction
Composite Material consists of two or more components such
as fiber and matrix and may or may not be filler in case of polymer
Composite materials. It is having wide range of application [1] such
as in case of industrial, automotive engineering medical aerospace
electrical, transportation, sports etc. The integration of two mate-
rial is giving better property compared with individual compo-
nents [2–4]. These days, the use of Glass/epoxy composite
material in aerospace is increasing day by day due to high strength
to weight ratio and ability to create huge and unified structure [2].
As an instance, one segment of glass/epoxy composite material can
modify seven or more traditional traditional metal parts that can
impressively minimise the production time and costs [5]. The envi-
ronmental issue has recently illuminated the arguments
demanded by society in terms of the importance of pollution to
quality of life. This has also placed a new rule on the businesses
in their contact with the environment. [6]. Five natural fibers are
tested using tensile load and obtained results are compared with
the results of E-glass fiber. In addition the composite containing
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: narendrakj.rs.mec15@iitbhu.ac.in (N. Kumar Jha).
polypropylene matrix with natural fibre having 40 wt% had under-
gone tensile and 3 point bending test. Then the composite having
polypropylene matrix and glass fiber mat as reinforcement being
tested and it results the composite containing glass fiber shows
maximum tensile strength [7]. The biocomposite consists of 20%
biochar volume fraction leads to increament of tensile strength
and there is no effect on tensile modulus [15]. The GFRP composite
having unidirectional and woven fabric pattern where off-axis ten-
sile load is applied leads to decrement in elastic moduli and
strength compared with on-axis loading [13]. The composite con-
taining fly ash having weight percentage of 5% and 20% respec-
tively results in improvement in the strength with the increase
in the flyash [14]. The failure mechanism and modeling strategy
for tow oven composite were studied [16]. Bolt location and lap
length effect the ultimate load and stiffness of structure [12]. The
failure analysis is being carried out with the help of finite element
on carbon/epoxy composite laminate under tensile load [17]. The
application of fiberglass composite in aircraft internal parts for
example storage compartments, window surroundings, wing fixed
trailing edge panels and wing firing [5]. One of the fiberglass
grades that is E-type. ‘E’ is an electronc symbol since its chemical
structure makes for an exceptional electrical insulator. Small air-
craft parts, aircraft insides and secondary parts of aircraft for

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.308
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Aspects of Materials Science and Engineering.

Please cite this article as: N. Kumar Jha, S. Kumar, A. Tyagi et al., Finite element and micromechanical analysis of glass/epoxy laminated composite with
different orientations, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.308
2 N. Kumar Jha et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

example random, rocket motor enclosures, it is therefore most Table 1

suitable [8]. E-glass has a strong fatigue tolerance, highest value Properties of the glass fiber (E-Glass).

of strength to weight ratio, outstanding dielectrical properties Properties Value Unit

and retaining 50%, superb chemical corrosion and environmentally E-modulus 80 GPa
safe [9]. Poisson’s ratio 0.25
The main objective of this paper is to find out best composite Volume fraction 0.5
lay-up sequence or orientation angle and optimum thickness Density 2.62 g=cm3
Shear-modulus 32 GPa
under the tensile loading condition with the help strength and
stiffness calculation. Furthermore von mises stress calculation
gives more insight towards the current objective. The results found
from simulation software Abaqus are compared and validated with Table 2
Properties of the Matrix (Epoxy resin).
the experimental and simulation results published by [10]. In addi-
tion a number of parametric analysis were accomplished in order Properties Value Unit
to focus the importance of selection of material and ply sequence E-modulus 2.915 GPa
in composites (Fig. 1). Poisson’s ratio 0.3
Volume fraction 0.5
Density 1.15 g=cm3
Shear-modulus 1.121 GPa

2. Micromechanical modeling

The Representative elementary volume is considered for the
estimation of modulus of elasticity, Shear modulus and poisons
ratio in different direction using python code and validated the
results with analytical models such as rule of mixture, chamis,
tsai-hahns, Nielsen model etc. and shows good agreement between
them which is explained below:
Prediction of best property is the first step of analysis. Here I
have constructed a unit cell from the parent continuous FRP with
the help of finite element software Abaqus. It contains matrix
and Glass fiber. I have purchased Glass fiber and HinpregÒA45
epoxy resin and hardener from Hindoostan Composite Solution.
Company gave me the property of the component which is shown
below as Tables 1 and 2 and I have considered those property value
for the analysis (Fig. 2).
In this analysis various fiber volume fraction is being considered
as 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 75% respectively. Using
python code the analysis is being carried out and the Elastic prop-
erty is obtained for various volume fraction. Out of those the unit
cell having volume fraction 75% gives the best property because
fiber is more stiffer than polymer matrix so as we are moving
towards increment in fiber amount correspondingly, there will be
improvement in property and so I have chosen the best property
which is shown below in Table 3.
Where E11, E22, and E33 are Young’s modulus. G12, G23, G13
are shear modulus, and V12, V13, V23 are Poisons ratios in xy, yz
and zx plane respectively.
3. Finite element modeling of GFRP composite under tensile
loading
The simulation was conducted in this study within the context
of the commercial finite element kit of Abaqus. Finite element
modelling of the composites depends on the research intent. There
are several composite modelling techniques available at Abaqus,
such as mixed modelling, microscopic modelling, discrete mod-
elling, macroscopic modelling and submodeling. However, layered
continuum shells, stacked solid elements and layered-solids shells
are the most common use in finite element simulations of compos-
ite material [11].
After calculation of property value the next step is to evaluate
the response of a Glass/epoxy laminates under tensile loading
and to investigate the best orientation and optimum thickness of
a material. The glass/epoxy laminated composite plate consists of
10 layers of uni-directional laminates, cross ply laminates and
angle ply laminates having thickness of 0.32 mm and the different
orientation were considered are [0,45, 45,60,90]s, [0,90,0,90,0]s,
[0,15,30,45,60]s, [90, 90,90, 90,90]s, [0, 90,0, 90,0]s,
[90,0,90,0,90]s, [ 90,0, 90,0, 90]s, [0,0,0,0,0]s,
[0,45,90, 45, 90]s.
Abaqus uses linear elasticity to describe the anisotropic elastic
moduli. For simulation the dimension of specimen considered are
(80  10  0.32) mm3. Property considered are shown in Table 3.
The analysis is having linear geometry with global mesh size of

Fig. 1. Representation of ideal fiber arrays and designed unit cell.

Please cite this article as: N. Kumar Jha, S. Kumar, A. Tyagi et al., Finite element and micromechanical analysis of glass/epoxy laminated composite with
different orientations, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.308
 N. Kumar Jha et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Fig. 2. 2D planar meshed model.

Table 3
Material properties of Glass/epoxy composites [Mpa].

E11 E22 E33 V12 V13 V23 G12 G23 G13

60641.9989 24847.5139 24886.9802 0.2568 0.2568 0.1766 8902.8658 5983.2719 8921.5097

0.9, standard element, shell model and second order accuracy is
considered. A 3D solid continuum element is used; it is 4-noded
element. The analysis is under hourglass control mode is per-
formed and reduced integration used.
4. Computational results and discussion
The simulation is done considering total 9 samples having the
same volume fraction and material properties of their individual
material components of laminated composite containing E-glass
parameters as shown in Table 3. The applied displacement at the
free end is 10 mm and other end remain fixed for all the 9 samples.
During starting of simulation the stacking sequence for laminated
composite plate is 0°, 45°, 45°, 60°, and 90° for ply-1,2,3,4 and 5
respectively and since I have opted for symmetric plies so it auto-
matically considered 10 plies.
After finishing the simulation successfully with good result and
simulations are repeated by varying the stacking sequence. Large
number of data is generated out of those the only best results
are shown here in this paper. Fig. 3 show the Stress-Strain diagram
for lay-up sequence 0°, 45°, 45°, 60°, and 90° for ply-1,2,3,4 and 5
respectively and Fig. 4 represents the Tensile strength of all nine
tested composite specimen.
Representd as [0,45, 45,60,90]s respectively and the tensile
strength value for other orientation angle is shown in Table 4.
Based on Fig. 3 the maximum tensile strength is 4698.3317 MPa

Fig. 3. Stress (MPa)-Strain Diagram for E-Glass/Epoxy Composite.

Please cite this article as: N. Kumar Jha, S. Kumar, A. Tyagi et al., Finite element and micromechanical analysis of glass/epoxy laminated composite with
different orientations, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.308
4 N. Kumar Jha et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 4. Tensile Strength-Orientation diagram for E-Glass/Epoxy Composite.

and the corresponding strain is 0.201. If we compare all the values

than the Composite having stacking sequence [0,0,0,0,0]s giving
the highest value of tensile strength.
And we can arrange in Descending order as [0,0,0,0,0]s >
[0, 90,0, 90,0]s > [0,90,0,90,0]s > [0,15,30,45,60]
s > [0,45,90, 45, 90]s > [0,45, 45,60,90]s. And other orientation
angle such as [90, 90,90, 90,90]s, [90,0,90,0,90]s,
[ 90,0, 90,0, 90]s, giving the absurd plot. So choosing 90° for
ply-1 is not a good idea but still the experimentation is required
for further checking of absurd results and also for other best orien-
tation so this paper will be helpful for researcher for selection of
ply orientation and also it will reduce time and money by carrying
so many experiment.
Figs. 5 and 6 shows the contour plot for Von mises stress and S22
stress having lay-up 0°, 45°, 45°, 60°, and 90° for ply-1,2,3,4 and 5 Fig. 5. Countour plot of Von Mises Stress.

respectively. It gives the detailed information about yielding phe-

nomena for the respective orientation. Figs. 5 and 6 shows the
maximum stresses value obtained from the contour plot for all
the 9 composite samples.
5. Conclusion
In this investigation the response of a multilayer Glass/Epoxy
laminates is being simulated with the help of Finite Element Soft-
ware ABAQUS. And before that lamina properties were calculated
by considering representative elementary volume. With the help
of Python code the elastic properties are calculated and the
obtained values are compared with the calculated values with
the help of analytical model and the result shows that there is good
agreement between them and those values are applied in this sim-
ulation. Here Shell model is considered for simulation because it is
much more flexible in comparison with solid model in terms of
computational cost (Fig. 7).
The behaviour of multilayer GFRP was simulated. The Uni-
Directional laminates, angle ply laminates and cross ply laminates.
To avoid the coupling effect the symmetric laminates were choo-
sen. Here S4R shell element were choosen as it reduces computa-
tional time and also it gives more accurate results. The load is
applied in terms of displacement = 10 mm at the free end and
the other end is fixed. The maximum Reaction force was noticed
at the clamped end during simulation. The thorough parametric
study deals with the effect of reinforcement material and ply orien-
tation on the stiffness of the laminated composite was conducted
and the following conclusions were drawn (Fig. 8):
(1) Uni-directional laminate gives better mechanical property
compared with other laminates.
(2) The Maximum mises stresses were found to be in case of
angle ply laminates.
The two common defects related with complicated manufactur-
ing mothod for composites are variation in thicknesses and fiber
waviness which leads to premature failure of the laminated com-
posites due to abruptly increment in the strain in that region.

Table 4
The strength value of different composite.

Orientation Maximum Stress |S22| (MPa) Maximum Von mises stresses (MPa) Tensile strength (MPa)
1 [0,45, 45,60,90]s 6321.881 6547.118 4698.331
2 [0,90,0,90,0]s 5276.528 5230.741 4903.805
3 [0,15,30,45,60]s 5963.444 6482.549 4801.6470
4 [90, 90,90, 90,90]s 1074.836 12952.327 Absurd plot
5 [0, 90,0, 90,0]s 5276.528 5230.741 4931.7217
6 [90,0,90,0,90]s 1123.055 12698.811 Absurd plot
7 [ 90,0, 90,0, 90]s 1123.0547 12698.8105 Absurd plot
8 [0,0,0,0,0]s 5310.855 5135.514 4974.5488
9 [0,45,90, 45, 90]s 5474.1558 6320.7935 4747.6084

Please cite this article as: N. Kumar Jha, S. Kumar, A. Tyagi et al., Finite element and micromechanical analysis of glass/epoxy laminated composite with
different orientations, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.308
 N. Kumar Jha et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Fig. 8. Maximum Von mises stress-Orientation diagram for E-Glass/Epoxy

Composite.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-

cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Please cite this article as: N. Kumar Jha, S. Kumar, A. Tyagi et al., Finite element and micromechanical analysis of glass/epoxy laminated composite with
different orientations, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.308