Effects of Boundary Conditions on Postbuckling Strengths of Composite Laminate with Various Shaped Cutouts under In-Plane Shear

Abstract

Cutouts are often provided in composite structural components for practical reasons. For instance, aircraft components such as wingspar, fuselage and ribs are provided with cutouts for access, inspection, fuel lines and electric lines or to reduce the overall weight. This paper addresses the effect of boundary condition on buckling and postbuckling responses, failure loads, and failure characteristics of composite laminate with various shaped cutouts (i.e., circular, square, diamond, elliptical-vertical and elliptical-horizontal) and having different lay-ups under in-plane shear (positive and negative) load, using finite-element method. The FEM formulation is based on the first order shear deformation theory in conjunction with geometric nonlinearity using von Karman’s assumptions. The 3-D Tsai-Hill criterion is used to predict the failure of a lamina while the onset of delamination is predicted by the interlaminar failure criterion. It is observed that the effect of boundary condition on buckling, first-ply failure and ultimate failure loads of a quasi-isotropic laminate with cutout is more for positive shear load than that for the negative shear load for almost all cutout shapes. It is also noted that under in-plane shear loads postbuckling stiffness of (0/90)4s laminate with circular cutout is maximum, while it is minimum for (45/—45)4s laminate with circular cutout, irrespective of boundary conditions.