3D finite element analysis of laminated composites under three-point bending

Abstract

Delamination is considered as one of the most critical failure modes which occurs near the free edges in laminated composites due to high interlaminar stress. When the classical plate theory is used to determine the in plane stress, the interlaminar stresses cannot be assessed by this theory, as it adopts the plane stress assumption. For that, a three-dimensional finite element analysis is adopted to calculate in-plane stresses as well as out-of-plane stresses of laminated composites under three-point bending. 8-node linear brick elements C3D8R with reduced integration available in ABAQUS element library is used for meshing the laminated composite models. The flexural numerical response of two main lay-up arrangements is modelled: Unidirectional laminates ([0]12,[90]12, [45]12) and multidirectional laminates (cross-ply [0/90]3S , angle-ply [±45]3S and quasi-isotropic laminates [0/90/±452] S ). Comparing the current results to experimental methodologies accessible in the literature demonstrates the predictive capability of the present model. Therefore, this study shows that the present formulations can predict with a good accuracy the deflection of the test specimens. Whilst, a significant dispersion is only observed for the unidirectional laminates [0]12.