Review

Journal of Composite Materials

2022, Vol. 56(18) 2921–2932
Isogeometric analysis based on non-uniform © The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/00219983221105313
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failure strength in inter-ply hybrid laminated
composite

Faouzi Rahmouni1, Mohamed Elajrami1, Kouider Madani2  and RDSG Campilho3,4

Abstract
In the present study, the stress distribution and first ply failure strength of hybrid laminated composites subjected to
uniaxial tensile and compression loads are predicted using Isogeometric analysis (IGA) based on non-uniform rational
B-splines technology, commonly referred to as non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) technology. The obtained results
were compared to finite element method results (ANSYS) published in the literature and analytical results using Autodesk
Helius Composite software. Graphite-glass/epoxy hybrid composite plates are analyzed for different lamination orien-
tations and used to calculate first ply failure strength. Non-interactive theories such as maximum stress, maximum strain,
and fully interactive criteria such as Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill and Hoffman are used to predict the failure strength of different
laminates. The failure envelopes of the hybrid composites are developed using the same failure criteria used for the
graphite-glass/epoxy hybrid composite. The effects of IGA refinement and plate’s dimension on the present analysis were
also established. The IGA results showed good accuracy, robustness and good convergence speed with the analytical
software results and the finite element method (FEM) reference value.

Keywords
Isogeometric analysis, Hybrid composite plates, First ply failure strength, non-uniform rational B-splines, Stress distribution

Introduction
Due to high specific properties, composites materials have
been widely used in many fields1 like aerospace, ship
building, sporting goods, automotive, defense, and infra-
structures. Nearly about 13% of the available engineering
materials in the market are composites, which makes
composite materials highly important in today’s world.2
Furthermore, it is forecasted that the global market size for
composites will amount to 160.54 billion U.S. dollars in
2027.3 However, despite the rapid advancement and im-
provement in the manufacturing technology for composite
materials, these are still associated to economic hurdles.
Hence, it is important to innovate in various aspects like
material, designing, processing, and manufacturing.
Hybrid composites are a combination of two or more
reinforcement fibers in a single matrix material,4 but it is
more likely that a combination of only two types of fibers
would be most advantageous.5 Due to their superior prop-
erties, which are unachievable by other monolithic materials,
hybrid composites are one of the available solutions for the
limiting factors of composites, especially the cost, for ex-
ample to partially replace expensive fibers such as graphite
and boron by less expensive fibers like glass and Kevlar. With
this solution, the mechanical performance is maintained or
enhanced, by considering fibers with superior tensile and
flexural strength, but with lower performance in impact
strength and elongation at failure, while the other fibers show
inverse characteristics.6 Hence, the combination of their
mechanical performances enables to meet the demands of
growing technological advances with the desired cost.7,8
Hybrid composites have been studied for more than
30 years.9 The most used technique for the analysis of hybrid
composites is finite element method (FEM). Dewangan et al.10
studied a hybrid 3D orthogonal woven composite (3DOWC)
1
Laboratory of Mechanical Structures and Solids, Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria
2
Laboratory of Mechanical Physic of Materials LMPM, Sidi Bel Abbes,
Algeria
3
ISEP - School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal
4
INEGI – Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering, Porto, Portugal
Corresponding author:
Faouzi Rahmouni, Mechanical Engineering, Laboratory of Mechanical
Structures and Solids, Sidi Bel Abbes 22000, Algeria.
Email: faouzi.rahmouni@univ-sba.dz
2922
subjected to ballistic impact by a conical-cylindrical projectile
using the FEM. Keshavamurthy et al.11 designed and analyzed
a hybrid composite spring composed of E-glass/epoxy and
carbon/epoxy using ANSYS. Ghani et al.12 studied the effects
of laminate arrangement on the failure behaviour of hybrid
composite plates under transverse sinusoidal load. Modeling
and analysis have been done in ANSYS using maximum stress
criteria, Ghani et al.12 showed the strength variation of hybrid
composite plates with different lamination arrangements.
Furthermore, numerous experimental works have been con-
ducted to study the effect of hybridization on tensile strength,
impact strength and the effective properties of the
composite.13–15
The FEM has great success in solving various problems in
many fields, but it also has limitations, especially in the
computational time. This limitation often motivates re-
searchers to move to other methods such as Meshless, Proper
Generalized Decomposition (PGD), Boundary Element
Method (BEM), and others, which proved their ability to solve
some FEM limitations. Isogeometric analysis (IGA) is a recent
method of computational analysis that has a widespread ap-
plication in different fields, and it was proposed by Hughes
et al.16,17 This method is based on integrating Computer-Aided
Design (CAD) and FEM into one model. The most used CAD
technology in IGA is NURBS,18,19 which is used to define the
geometry representation and the design variables due to its
great properties such as exact geometry, smooth boundaries,
and refinement methodology (hpk-refinement).
Since most of the available research-papers used FEM to
predict the failure load in hybrid composite plates, the goal of
this paper is to apply the NURBS-based IGA to simplify the
prediction of failure load, prevent the FEM limitations to
obtain accurate results and speed up the analysis process of
graphite-glass/epoxy hybrid laminates composite materials
subjected to tensile and compressive loads. The failure load is
calculated for different fiber orientations and stacking se-
quences. Various failure criteria were employed to estimate the
failure stress and the failure envelope of hybrid composite
laminates.
Mathematical formulation
In this section, the mathematical features of the IGA based
on NURBS are introduced, namely the discretization of
8 8
> >
>
>  
>
> for pd ¼ 0 Ni,0 ξ d ¼
>
> >
< : 0,
>
>
>
>
>
>   ξ d  ξ di
>
: for pd > 0 Ni,pd ξ d ¼
ξ diþpd  ξ di
Journal of Composite Materials 56(18)
CAD part (NURBS) and the analysis part of IGA from the
weak form to the global matrix form. Furthermore, the
previously mentioned failure envelope and failure criteria
are briefly reviewed. For further details see reference20.
NURBS
NURBS are considered as the generalization of B-splines, a
family of curves, surfaces and volumes derived from the ra-
tionale of weighted B-spline shape functions defined in the
parametric space. Their excellent mathematical and algorith-
mic properties offer great flexibility and accuracy for the
generation and representation of complex geometries.
Therefore, NURBS became a standard tool for Computer-
Aided Design (CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing
(CAM), and Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) industries
in the world.21 Further details and extensive references on
NURBS technology can be retrieved in references17–19.
NURBS discretisation
Consider Ξ as an open non-uniform knot vector associated
with the Dth dimension be defined by:
n o
Ξd ¼ ξd1 ,ξd2 ,…,ξdnd þpd ,ξdnd þpd þ1 (1)
Where nd {n1, n2, n3}and pd {p, q, l} are the total number
and the polynomial order of shape functions that belong to
the {first, second, third} dimension, respectively. ξdi 2 R are
the knot coordinates ð0 ≤ ξdi ≤ 1Þ in an increasing order
ðξ 1 ≤ ξ 2 …≤ξ nd þpd þ1Þ. Furthermore, polynomial order pd
provides C pd md continuity in each interior knot where md
is the repetition or the multiplicity of the knot ξ di in the knot
vector Ξd , and the maximum multiplicity allowed for each
knot is md ≤ pd þ 1, which means that the multiplicity
decreases the continuity from pd to 1. On the other hand,
in an open knot vector the first and last knot entries are
repeated by pd þ 1 times. This property makes the control
mesh interpolatory to the physical mesh on the boundaries.
Non-uniform knot vectors allow any spacing between
knots, including adjacent knots with the same value
(multiplicity). Based on these parameters, B-spline shape
functions can be defined using the following Cox de Boor
recursive formula as22:
< 1, if ξ di ≤ ξ d < ξ diþ1
otherwise
(2)
ξ diþpd þ1  ξ d
Ni,pd 1 þ Niþ1,pd 1
ξ diþpd þ1  ξ diþ1
Rahmouni et al. 2923

A univariate NURBS basis is defined by the rationale of h-refinement). Furthermore, derivative NURBS algorithm is
weighted B-spline shape functions as: necessary for the IGA and can be found in references.17,18
  The main limitation of NURBS technology is the impos-
 1 wi Ni,p ξ 1 sibility of local refinement, i.e., refinement requires the
Ri ξ ¼ Pn1
p
 1 (3)
i¼1 wi Ni,p ξ insertion of an entire row of control points, which causes
superfluous control points and increases the computational
Similarly, bivariate and trivariate NURBS shape func- time. Another limitation is that each single NURBS surface
tions can be defined by the following rational tensor product must have a rectangular topology. Furthermore, most of
of B-spline functions: NURBS objects must be modeled using several NURBS
    surfaces and it is difficult to join multiple NURBS surfaces
 1 2 wi,j Ni,p ξ1 Mj,q ξ2
Rp,q
i,j ξ ,ξ ¼ Pn1 Pn2    2 (4) in a single, smooth, watertight model, especially if corners
j¼1 wi,j Ni,p ξ Mj,q ξ
1
i¼1 of valence other than four are introduced.
 
ξ ,ξ ,ξ ¼
p,q,l 1 2 3
Ri,j,k
     
wi,j,k Ni,p ξ1 Mj,q ξ2 Sk,l ξ3 (5) IGA governing equations
Pn1 Pn2 Pn3  1  2   3 ,
i¼1 j¼1 k¼1 wi,j,k Ni,p ξ Mj,q ξ Sk,l ξ Weak formulation. The hybrid composite plate is considered
where i ¼ 1; 2, …,n1 , j ¼ 1; 2, …,n2 ,k ¼ 1; 2, …,n3 , and as a 2D domain V bounded by prescribed displacement (Γu)
w are real positive weights :p,q,l are the polynomial order in and tractions boundaries (Γt), where the domain boundary
d ¼ f1; 2; 3g, respectively. Ni,p , Mj,q , Sk,l denote suitable Γ = Γu [ Γt and, Γ = Γu\Γt = φ. The governing equilibrium
B-spline shape functions. Additionally, from the above- equation is given by23,24:
mentioned shape functions and P control points in single =: σ þ b ¼ 0 in V (9)
or multi-dimension, the following can be defined:
NURBS Curve: σ n ¼ t on Γt (10)
  Xn1 p  1 
C ξ1 ¼ R ξ Pi
i¼1 i
(6) u¼u on Γu , (11)

NURBS Surface: where = is the Nabla differential operator, σ is the Cauchy

stress tensor, b is the body force and n is the outward normal
  Xn1 Xn2 p,q  1 2 
S ξ1 ,ξ2 ¼ R ξ ,ξ Pi,j (7) on Γt . The Cauchy stress tensor is defined by Hooke’s law
i¼1 j¼1 i,j
as:
URBS Volume:
σ¼Cε (12)
  Xn1 Xn2 Xn3 p,q,l  1 2 3 
V ξ 1 ,ξ 2 ,ξ 3 ¼ i¼1 j¼1
R
k¼1 i,j,k
ξ ,ξ ,ξ Pi,j,k (8) 1 
ε¼ u þ uT , (13)
2
NURBS shape functions exhibit many desirable prop-
erties for the analysis part, such as: where C is a fourth order material constitutive tensor, ε is
the strain tensor based on small deformation approach, and
P d Pd d
•Partition of unity: ni¼1 Ri ðξ Þ ¼ 1 uT is the transpose displacement vector. The stress vector
•Non-negativity: "i , RPd
i ðξ d
Þ > 0. depends on the fiber orientation θ by the following 2D
•Local support transformation matrix:
•Linear independent. 2 3 2 32 3
•Variation diminishing. Satisfied Kronecker delta at the σ θ θ  θ θ 76 σ 1 7
2 2
6 7 6
x cos sin 2 cos sin
element boundary. 6 σ y 7 ¼ 6 sin2 θ cos 2
θ 2 cos θ sin θ 76 σ 2 7
4 5 4 54 5
σ xy cos θ sin θ  cos θ sin θ cos θ  sin θ
2 2
σ 12
In most analysis cases, a smaller mesh means more
accurate results. H-p-k NURBS refinement is one of the (14)
important features that improves the flexibility of NURBS
mesh and gives the ability to use higher order and higher where σ x , σ y , σ xy and σ 1 , σ 2 ,σ 12 are respectively the
continuity shape functions, desired for the analysis, such as global and local stress components. The numerical so-
shell and beam elements. In this procedure, h-refinement lution must satisfy the boundary conditions defined by
and p-refinement are the knot insertion and order elevation equation (10) and (11). By applying the virtual work
procedures, respectively, while k-refinement is a combi- principle, the weak form is obtained by multiplying the
nation of the two procedures (p-refinement and equation (9) by the test function δu, and then integrating
2924 Journal of Composite Materials 56(18)

by parts the stress term and using equations. (12) and 2 3T

 1  1  1
(13) as: 6R ξ 0 R ξ
 1 2
0
 1
… Rnd ξ 0  7
Z Z Z R¼4 1 1 5
0 R1 ξ 0 R2 ξ … 0 R nd ξ
T
εðδuÞ C εðuÞ dV  b δudV  t δudΓ ¼ 0
V V Γt (20)
(15) For the body force:

2 3T
     
6 R1 ξ1 ,ξ 2
0 R2 ξ1 ,ξ 2
0 … Rnd ξ1 ,ξ 2
0 7
R¼6
4      7
1 2 5
(21)
0 R1 ξ ,ξ
1 2
0 R2 ξ ,ξ
1 2
… 0 Rnd ξ ,ξ

IGA discretization of the weak form 1 1  

J2 ¼ ξiþ1  ξ1i ξ2jþ1  ξ2j
Using the NURBS shape functions defined in equation (3), (4) 4
2 ∂x ∂x 3
and (5) and their derivatives depending on the dimension
required for the analysis, the weak form of the equilibrium 6 ∂ξ1 ∂ξ2 7 (22)
6 7
equation equation (15) can be discretized after a mathematical J1 ¼ 6 7det ðJÞ ¼ det ðJ1 Þ  det ðJ2 Þ
4 ∂y ∂y 5
treatment into the following global matrix form:
∂ξ1 ∂ξ2
KU¼F (16)
where for 2D space considered for the present study:
X N X Z 1 Z 1 
Failure criteria and failure envelopes
K¼ Ke ¼ BT C B detðJ Þ wi dξ1 dξ2
e¼0 1 1 Maximum stress failure criterion. The Maximum Stress Theory
(17) is a non-interactive, linear, and less complicated failure criterion,
extensively used to predict the failure of composite materials.
X
N
This failure criterion is an expansion of Rankine and Tresca
F¼ Fe theories of isotropic and homogeneous materials. Failure occurs
e¼o
0 1 once the stress components on the principal direction of the ply
X Z 1Z 1 Z
are equal to or exceed the corresponding strength either in
¼ @ RT b det ðJ Þ wi dξ 1 dξ 2 þ RtdΓA
1 1
tension or compression, i.e., failure occurs in a 2D model if at
Γt least one of the following conditions in any ply is satisfied:
(18)
Xc ≤ σ1 ≤ Xt
U is the unknown displacement vector of the control Yc ≤ σ2 ≤ Yt (23)
points, R is the NURBS shape functions, B is the strain- jt12 j≤S,
displacement matrix, wi is the Gaussian point, det(J) is the
Jacobian determinant, and B, R and det(J) are defined as the where σ1 ,σ2 and t12 are the normal stresses in directions
following: 1 and 2, and the shear stress in the fiber direction, re-
2 3 spectively. Xt is the tensile strength, Xc is the compressive
strength, Yt and Yc are the tensile and compressive
R
6 i,x 0 7 strengths in the transverse direction, respectively, and S is
Bi ¼ 6 7
4 0 Ri,y 5 B ¼ ½B1 B2 … Bnd  i ½1,nd  (19)
the shear strength of the composite lamina. The failure
Ri,y Ri,x
envelope based on the Maximum Stress Criterion is a simple
rectangle restricted by the tensile and compressive
For the boundaries Γt : strengths, as clearly illustrated in Figure 1.
Rahmouni et al. 2925

Figure 1. Failure envelope for the Maximum Stress Criterion.

Figure 2. Failure envelope for the Maximum Strain Criterion.

Maximum Strain Failure Criterion

The Maximum Strain Failure Theory is quite similar to the
Maximum Stress Failure Criterion, expanded from maxi-
mum normal strain St. Venant and Tresca theories for
isotropic materials. Failure of the lamina is assumed to
occur whenever any normal or shear strain component
equals or exceeds the corresponding ultimate strain. This
theory is mathematically written in 2D as follows:
ε1c ≤ ε1 ≤ ε1t
ε2c ≤ ε2 ≤ ε2t (24)
jγ12 j ≤ κ,
where ε1 , ε2 and γ12 are the strains in the principal material
coordinates, ε1t , ε2t , ε1c and ε2c are the maximum tensile strain Figure 3. Failure envelope for the Tsai-Hill criterion.
and compressive normal strain, and κ is a maximum shear
strain in the 1-2 plane. The failure envelope for the Maximum
Strain Criterion is obtained from the followed relations20: σ21 σ22 2
t12 σ1  σ2
2 þ 2 þ 2  ≥1 (27)
σ2 ¼ υ21  σ1  Yt (25) Xt Yt S Xt2

σ1  Xt σ21 σ22 2
t12 σ1  σ2
σ2 ¼ (26) 2 þ 2 þ  ≥ 1, (28)
υ12 Xc Yc S2 Xc2

Using equations. (22) and (23), the failure envelope for
this theory is shown in Figure 2.
Tsai-Hill failure criterion
The Tsai-Hill failure criterion is an appropriate modification
of Von-Mises distortional energy yield criterion for isotropic
materials, also applied to anisotropic materials and unidi-
rectional lamina. The Tsai-Hill criterion takes into account
the interactions between stresses components. However,
according to this failure criterion, ply rupture appears when
the followed conditions are satisfied:
where equation (24) is for tensile stress and equation (25) is for
compression stress. The failure envelope for the Tsai-Hill
failure criterion is and ellipse, as shown in Figure 3.
Tsai-Wu failure criterion
The Tsai-Wu failure criterion is based on the total strain
energy failure theory. In this failure criterion, failure occurs
in the ply if the following condition is satisfied:
F11 σ21 þ F22 σ22 þ F66 t12
2
þ F1 σ1 þ F2 σ2 þ 2 F12 σ1 σ2 ≥ 1,
(29)
2926 Journal of Composite Materials 56(18)

obtained from Autodesk Helius Composite and the nu-

merical results reported by Goswami and Saxena .2 The
length of the rectangular plate is L = 100 mm, as shown in
Figure 5(a). The thickness of each ply is taken as 0.125 mm
and 8 symmetric plies of class/epoxy and graphite/epoxy
materials are considered to construct different inter-ply
composite plates (see Figure 5(b)). Furthermore, the plate
was subjected to a distributed loading of 1 MPa applied on
the right and the left sides of the laminate. The material
properties of glass-graphite/epoxy 2 are presented in
Table 1.
In order to validate the results of NURBS based IGA,
various unidirectional [θ˚/θ˚/θ˚/θ˚]s and angle ply [θ˚/-θ˚/
θ˚/-θ˚]s hybrid-laminates are studied in the present investi-
gation. The fiber orientation angle θ˚ assumes the values of 0°,
45°, 45° and 90°. Furthermore, the effect of different
Figure 4. Failure envelope for the Tsai-Wu criterion. polynomial orders (pd ), mesh densities and ply thickness on
the failure strength is evaluated in this study. The failure
where: envelope for the hybrid laminate is considered using the
previously mentioned failure criteria.
1 1 1
F11 ¼ F22 ¼ F66 ¼ 2
Xt  Xc Yt  Yc S
1 1 1 1 1 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Results and discussions
F1 ¼  F1 ¼  F12 ¼ F11 ∗F22
Xt Xc Yt Yc 2 A Matlab program for NURBS-based IGA was established
(30) to study the stress distributions and first ply failure load in
different fiber orientation of hybrid composite plates. To
In general, the failure envelope for the Tsai-Wu failure validate NURBS-based IGA, it was decided to divide this
theory is shown in Figure 4. section into two parts, one for the comparison between IGA,
FEA, and analytical Helius Composite results, and the other
to study the effect of plate dimensions, mesh density and order
Hoffman failure criterion
of basis function on the stress distributions and failure load.
Hoffman introduced a failure theory by adding linear terms The first part contains three hybrid-composite plate examples
to Hill’s criterion. According to the Hoffman failure theory, with different sequence of fibers orientation loaded parallel to
the composite ply has failed if the following condition is the x direction in tension and compression.
satisfied:
σ21 σ1 σ2 σ22 Xt þ Xc Comparison of results
 þ  þ σ1
Xt  Xc Xt  Xc Yt  Yc Xt  Xc (31) In the following examples there are no moment forces and
Yt þ Yc t2 all composite plates considered for simulation are sym-
þ σ2 þ 122 ≥ 1
Yt  Yc S metric, leading to no significant changes in stress and failure
load results between top, middle and bottom planes of the
It should be mentioned that the size of the failure en-
hybrid composite plates in the present study. Furthermore,
velope varies with the amount of shear stress for the Tsai-
due to the same reason, strains in all FEM points of hybrid
Wu, Tsai-Hill and Hoffman failures criteria.
composite are equal. In contrast, the stress components vary
depending on material properties and fiber orientation. The
abbreviation Gr and Gl represent the graphite/epoxy and
Description of the study
the glass/epoxy materials, respectively.
In this paper, tension and compression tests on square
hybrid-composite plates are presented using NURBS- UD laminate [0˚Gr/0˚Gl/0˚Gr/0˚Gl]s. For this staking se-
based IGA to study the stress and failure strength of the quence, the global stress results versus hybrid composite
plates and to predict the failure mode for each example. A plies obtained from the NURBS-based IGA procedure are
valid analytical and numerical reference are used to verify shown for a tensile load in Figure 6(a) and for a compressive
the proposed simulation approach. The results of the load in Figure 6(b). The distribution of the stress between
present simulation are compared with the analytical results plies is uniform and equal on all IGA control points. It could
Rahmouni et al. 2927

Figure 5. (a) IGA configuration of the composite plate (• control point), (b) Symmetric laminate plate configuration (Zi mid-plan
thickness).

Table 1. Mechanical properties of unidirectional composites2.

Property E1 ðGPaÞ E2 ðGPaÞ G12 ðGPaÞ V12 V (min) XtðMPaÞ XcðMPaÞ YtðMPaÞ YcðMPaÞ SðMPaÞ

Graphical-epoxy 126 11 6.6 0.280 1950 1480 48 200 79

Glass-epoxy 53.48 17.7 5.83 0.278 1140 570 35 114 72

Figure 6. Stress distribution versus plies in fiber orientation [0˚Gr/0˚Gl/0˚Gr/0˚Gl]s subjected to: (a) tensile load, (b) compressive load.

Table 2. Failure stress of [0°Gr/0°Gl/0°Gr/0°Gl]s composite plate subjected to tensile load.

Failure criteria Helius composite FEM (Ansys) [03] IGA based on NURBS

Maximum stress 1388.79 1388 1388.791

Maximum strain 1388.83 — 1388.834
Hoffman — — 1386.855
Tsai-hill 1388.85 — 1388.853
Tsai-Wu 1388.26 1388 1388.262

be concluded that the two figures are symmetrical with
respect to the ply axis, for the tensile stress load. The
maximum stress value is σx = 1.4 MPa, observed in
graphite/epoxy plies due to higher longitudinal Young’s
modulus, while for the glass/epoxy plies the maximum
stress value is σx = 0.59 MPa, due to its lower longitudinal
Young’s modulus compared to the graphite/epoxy longi-
tudinal Young’s modulus, and vice-versa for the com-
pressive stress load. The values of stress in Y direction and
shear stress are laying near to zero.
The results obtained from the failure analysis using the
IGA procedure and Helius Composite software are given in
2928
Table 3. Failure stress of [0°Gr/0°Gl/0°Gr/0°Gl]s composite
plate subjected to compressive load.
Failure criteria Helius composite IGA based on NURBS
Maximum stress 956.535 956.535
Maximum strain 636.581 636.582
Hoffman — 954.600
Tsai-Hill 956.403 956.403
Tsai-Wu 953.641 953.641
Table 2 and Table 3. For the tensile and compressive load,
the failure stresses obtained from various failure criteria on
this model are situated between the longitudinal and the
transverse failure strength (Xt, Xc), where the failure oc-
curred in all the graphite/epoxy plies (1, 3, 6 and 8 plies) due
the traction along x direction for the tensile test. On the other
hand, for the compressive load, failure occurred in all glass/
epoxy plies (2, 4, 5 and 7 plies) due the compression along x
direction. The failure results show no significant difference
between the analytical results (Helius Composite) and the
numerical results (IGA based on NURBS) on tensile and
compressive tests for the failure criteria considered in this
study. Furthermore, the results of FEM/Ansys published in
reference2 are also in agreement, which proves the accuracy
of the present study using NURBS-based IGA.
UD laminate [45˚Gr/-45˚Gl/45˚Gr/-45˚Gl]s
Figure 7(a) and Figure 7(b) show the global stress com-
ponents in this configuration. Similarly, stresses in tensile
and compressive load are symmetric, uniform and equal in
all IGA control points. Moreover, the variation in longi-
tudinal and transverse stress is almost the same for all plies,
while for the shear stresses opposite values were found for
+45° and 45° plies, due to the effect of material properties
and fiber orientation.
From Table 4 and Table 5 it is clearly observed that the
failure stress for tensile and compressive tests using IGA and
the analytical method are the same and agree with FEM results.
+45° and 45° fiber orientations decrease the failure stress
comparing to 0° fiber orientation due the shear load applied to
the fibers. In this case, the plies’ failure depends on the failure
criteria, and it is well seen that there is no significant difference
in the failure stress between both tests (tensile and
compressive).
UD laminate [0˚Gr/45˚Gl/-45˚Gr/90˚Gl]s
In this hybrid composite model, the fiber orientation effect
on the stress distribution using IGA was investigated. The
global stress distribution is highlighted in Figure 8(a) and
Journal of Composite Materials 56(18)
Figure 8(b) for tensile and compressive tests, respectively.
For the tensile test, the maximum stress value is σx =
2.63 MPa, observed in the 0° plies, while the minimum
longitudinal stress observed in the 90° plies is σx=0.34 MPa.
Transverse and shear stresses for the 0° and 90° plies are
nearly zero. Plies which are oriented at 45° are subjected to
higher shear stresses compared to other plies due to the
effect of fiber orientation (equation. (14)) on stress
components.
Table 6 and Table 7 highlight the failure stress for this
configuration. Similarly to the previous configuration,
IGA based on NURBS gives a perfect match when
compared to the Helius Composite software and close to
FEM data published in reference 2. The minimum failure
stress is observed in the 90° fiber orientation due to
loads carried mainly by the matrix material in both
tensile and compressive test cases. Therefore, the plies
showing failure are plies 4 and 5, related to 90° fiber
orientation, and the expected failure modes are de-
bonding and matrix rupture. Furthermore, the results
showed highest failure stress under a compressive load
compared to tensile due to the mechanical properties of
the glass material.
Isogeometric analysis refinement and geometrical
effects on failure stress
This analysis, using IGA based on NURBS and the
Maximum Stress Failure Criterion (equation. (23)), in-
vestigates the effect of polynomial order, mesh density,
ply thickness and dimensions of the hybrid composite
plate, with the above-mentioned configuration and sub-
jected to a tensile loading, on the failure stress of the
hybrid composite plate. Figure 9(a) and Figure 9(b) show
the effect of mesh refinement on the failure stress, where
increasing the polynomial order is a strategy of refine-
ment in IGA tilted P-refinement. On the other hand,
h-refinement (knot insertion) is used to elevate the mesh
density of the model. Unlike in most FEM simulations, it
can be clearly seen that the refinement has no effect on the
failure stress in all configurations of the current study.
Figure 10(b) shows the effect of varying length or width
of the hybrid laminate plate. Similarly, there is no plate
dimensions effect on failure stress. For the present study,
the lack of effect is mainly due the shape function on the
IGA analysis. In fact, the shape function varied with the
mesh refinement and dimension of the plate but, as in
equation (16) stiffness matrix (K) and Forces (F) formed
in depth by shape function, in the present work the shape
function keeps the compilation between K and F to
maintain the same failure results with different mesh
refinement and dimension of the plate. However, in the
Rahmouni et al. 2929

Figure 7. Stress distribution versus plies in fiber orientation [45˚Gr/-45˚Gl/45˚Gr/-45˚Gl]s subjected to: (a) tensile load, (b)
compressive load

Table 4. Failure stress of [45°Gr/-45°Gl/45°Gr/-45°Gl]s composite plate subjected to tensile load.

Failure criteria Helius composite FEM (Ansys) [03] IGA based on NURBS

Maximum stress 148.783 148.78 148.783

Maximum strain 148.783 — 148.783
Hoffman — — 113.797
Tsai-Hill 119.297 — 119.297
Tsai-Wu 116.288 116.292 148.288

Table 5. Failure stress of [45°Gr/-45°Gl/45°Gr/-45°Gl]s

case of varying ply thickness, the only change happens in
composite plate subjected to compressive load.
the stiffness matrix, i.e., the material constitutive tensor C
Failure criteria Helius composite IGA based on NURBS in equation (12) varies with the plies’ thickness. Thereby,
only the matrix K varied. Thus, the increase of matrix K
Maximum stress 148.783 148.783
increases the failure stress and vice versa as equation
Maximum strain 148.783 148.783
(16). Therefore, Figure 10(a) shows a clear linear effect,
Hoffman — 170.095
especially for the [0˚Gr/0˚Gl/0˚Gr/0˚Gl]s configuration
Tsai-Hill 146.435 146.435
Tsai-Wu 175.418 175.418
where a plate with thickness of 8 mm gives an extreme
tensile failure stress of 11000 MPa.

Figure 8. Stress distribution versus plies in fiber orientation [0˚Gr/45˚Gl/-45˚Gr/90˚Gl]s subjected to: (a) tensile load, (b) compressive
load current e thickness of 8 mm gives an extreme tensile failure stress of 11000 MPa
2930 Journal of Composite Materials 56(18)

Table 6. Failure stress of [0°Gr/45°Gl/-45°Gr/90°Gl]s composite plate subjected to tensile load.

Failure criteria Helius composite FEM (Ansys) [03] IGA based on NURBS

Maximum stress 102.374 102.375 102.374

Maximum strain 94.598 — 94.598
Hoffman — — 99.929
Tsai-Hill 101.984 — 101.984
Tsai-Wu 98.511 98.512 98.511

Table 7. Failure stress of [0°Gr/45°Gl/-45°Gr/90°Gl]s on various failure criteria using Autodesk Helius Composite
composite plate subjected to compressive load. software. Figure 11(a) shows the effect of hybridization of the
composite material for the tensile case. It is well shown that the
Failure criteria Helius composite IGA based on NURBS
hybrid composite failure is situated between the tensile failure
Maximum stress 333.447 333.447 strengths of the two materials (graphite/epoxy and glass/
Maximum strain 308.119 308.119 epoxy) that construct the hybrid composite plate.
Hoffman — 336.691 Figure 11(b) shows the failure envelope of the unidirectional
Tsai-Hill 328.452 328.452 composite [0˚Gr/0˚Gl/0˚Gr/0˚Gl]s. The failure strength is the
Tsai-Wu 321.116 321.116 intersection with σ1, σ2 = 0 axis, noting that the positive side is
for the tensile strength, while the negative side is for the
compressive strength. Figure 12(a) shows the failure envelope
Failure envelope of the composite [45˚Gr/-45˚Gl/45˚Gr/-45˚Gl]s. In this case,
the 45° fiber orientation effect on failure strength is well shown
Failure envelopes for the three hybrid composite plates sub- graphically. Figure 12(b) is a general view of the failure
jected to tensile load considered in this study were drawn based strength of the composite [0˚Gr/45˚Gl/-45˚Gr/90˚Gl]s. In this

Figure 9. (a) Effect of polynomial order on failure stress, (b) Effect of mesh density on failure stress.

Figure 10. (a) Effect of ply thickness on failure stress (b) Effect of dimension of the plate on failure.
Rahmouni et al.
Figure 11. (a) Effect of hybridization on tensile failure stress, (b) Failure envelope for [0˚Gr/0˚Gl/0˚Gr/0˚Gl]s in glass-graphite/epoxy
hybrid composite.
Figure 12. Failure envelope of the glass-graphite/epoxy hybrid composite material for: (a) [45˚Gr/-45˚Gl/45˚Gr/-45˚Gl]s (b) [0˚Gr/
45˚Gl/-45˚Gr/90˚Gl]s.
case, the failure envelopes are irregular shapes due to the effect
of various fiber orientations. An excellent agreement is achieved
by comparing the predicted failure envelopes (the intersection
with σ 1 ¼ 0, σ 2 ¼ 0 axis) against NURBS-based IGA results
mentioned in the comparison of results (section 4.1).
Conclusion
In this paper, NURBS technology-based IGA formulation
was developed to study the stresses and failure strength of
hybrid composite laminates subjected to uniaxial load.
NURBS technology has many advantages for the analysis,
such as allowing exact and smooth representation of ge-
ometries, permitting a straightforward increase in the ap-
proximation order and specification of the degree of
continuity of the shape functions, and other properties
desired for the analysis. Those advantages and properties
allows the IGA analysis to have flexible strategies of
2931
refinement, robustness and accurate results, which is proved
in the present study by several numerical examples and
compared to analytical and numerical approaches for the
hybridization of the composite material. In addition, the
failure envelope of hybrid composite plates using different
failure theories was compared to IGA results obtained, and
the effects of IGA refinement, plate dimensions and
thickness of plies on hybrid composite material simulation
was also carried out. The important conclusions of the
present study are summarized next:
1. NURBS-based IGA gives accurate results, robustness and
good convergence speed analysis for the current study.
2. No refinement and plate’s dimension effects were found
on the plate subjected to uniaxial load in the present study.
3. The increase of plies’ thickness linearly increases the
failure strength of the hybrid composite plate and vice
versa.
2932
4. Hybridization in composite materials increases the
failure strength.
5. The failure envelope follows the fiber orientations of
the plate.
In the future, several CAD technologies and new hy-
bridization techniques will have to work together more
closely for a successful integration of IGA into hybrid
composite material simulations.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with re-
spect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, au-
thorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Kouider Madani  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3277-1187
Raul Campilho  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4167-4434
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