FRACTURE BEHAVIOUR OF A RECTANGULAR COMPOSITE LAMINA WITH A VIRTUAL CRACK UNDER DIFFERENT LOADING CONDITIONS

Abstract

The increase in the usage of fibre reinforced polymers in the transportation sector increases the need for studying their behaviour under real life loading conditions. To reduce the experimental costs for testing, mathematical models can be implemented to predict fracture behavior. In the present study, a rectangular plate with a delamination defect and a virtual crack was modeled in ANSYS and the fracture behaviour was studied when the mechanical, thermal and thermo-mechanical loads are applied to the plate. The fracture behaviour of the rectangular plate was quantified by the strain energy release rate (SERR) and the effect of the fibre orientation angle, lamina stacking and thickness of the laminate was studied. The SERR increased with the increase in the applied loads. The thermo-mechanical loads have higher impact on the SERR compared to other loads. The increase in the thickness of the laminate reduced the SERR. The Angle – ply stacking sequence has a higher SERR than the cross-ply sequence.