Experimental and theoretical predictions of first-ply failure strength of laminated composite plates

Abstract

Experimental and theoretical methods are presented to study the first-ply failure strength of laminated composite plates under different loading conditions. An acoustic emission technique is used to measure the energy released in the plates during the failure process. The first-ply failure strength of the plates is then identified via the energy vs load diagrams which are constructed on the basis of the measured acoustic emissions. A finite element analysis, which is constructed on the basis of the layerwise linear displacement theory, and the Tsai-Wu failure criterion are used to predict the first-ply failure strength of the plates. The comparison between the experimental and theoretical results shows good agreement. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.