Stress and Strain Concentration Factors in Orthotropic Composites with Hole under Uniaxial Tension

Abstract

A systematic investigation is carried out on how different parameters influence stress and strain concentration factors (SCF and SNCF) in a composite plate with a hole under uniaxial tension. Flat and singly curved composite plates have been modelled in ANSYS 15.0. The governing parameter includes: (i) size, shape and eccentricity of hole, (ii) number of plies, (v) fiber orientation and (vi) plate curvature. It is observed that different parameters influence the SCF and SNCF with varying degrees. For example, SCF may be as high as 7.16 for a square shaped hole. Also, SCF and SNCF are found to be approximately same in most of the cases. Finally, simplified design formulas are developed for evaluation of SCF for a wide range of hole size, eccentricity and fiber orientation.

Keywords

• composite plate
• stress distribution
• stress concentration factor
• strain concentration factor
• fiber orientation
• sensitivity analysis