Effect of Stacking Sequence Variation on First Ply Failure Load of Laminated Composite Skew Plate

The present work aims to study and report the first ply failure load of laminated composite skew plate of different laminations and stacking sequences with a practical boundary condition. The finite element model is developed using eight noded isoparametric curved quadratic shell element with five degrees of freedom per node (with three translations and two rotations). Numerical experiments are conducted considering skew plates of varying skew angles, laminations and stacking patterns. First ply failure loads are evaluated for seven different failure criteria such as maximum stress, maximum strain, Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill, Hoffman, Puck and Hashin’s failure criteria. The minimum value of load obtained from different failure criteria is chosen as the governing first ply failure load value. Benchmark problems are solved to validate the correctness of the present approach of evaluation of first ply failure load and incorporation of skew geometry in the present model. The results of authors’ own problems are finally studied meticulously and relative performance matrix of skew plate options of different combination of skew angle and stacking sequences are reported.