Effect of Orientation of Laminates on Bending Behaviour of Delaminated Composite Conoidal Shell Roofs

Literature review shows that research works on the bending behaviour of delaminated composite conoidal shells on rectangular planform are very few in number. In order to fill up this gap a study on static analysis of delaminated composite conoidal shells is done using finite element method. An eight noded curved quadratic isoparametric shell element having five degrees of freedom per node is used for the present work. To ensure the compatibility of deformation and equilibrium of forces and moments at the delamination crack tip a multiple constraint algorithm is developed and incorporated. Results of the present model are validated with help of some benchmark problems available in literature. The study is done to characterize delaminated composite conoids with different types of conventional boundary conditions. Parametric studies are done for angle of orientation, number of layers of laminates and degree of fixity of shells under uniformly distributed loading. Finally after a careful and thorough investigation some pin point conclusions is made as outcome of present study.