Progressive Transverse Cracking of Crossply Composite Laminates

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Abstract
A simplified shear lag analysis using a progressive damage scheme is pro posed for crossply composite laminates under uniaxial tensile loading. Closed form solu tions for stress distributions, transverse crack density and reduced stiffnesses of damaged plies as well as the entire laminate can be obtained as a function of applied load and prop erties of the constituent plies, where the shear lag parameter is only a function of geom etry and shear moduli of the lamina. The analysis can also take into account the residual stresses in the laminate. Experimental and predicted results for reduced stiffness as a func tion of crack density are in good agreement for various crossply composite laminates. Pre dicted results for crack density as a function of applied load, as well as stress-strain curves to failure are shown and are in good agreement with experimental results for a crossply laminate under monotonic tensile loading conditions. The proposed theory can be used as a basis for development of a damage accumulation model.