Effect of Notch Location on the Stress Concentration and Reliability of Notched Composite Laminates Based on a Probabilistic Approach

Abstract

Composite materials and laminates are being widely used in aerospace and automotive industries due to their less weight to stiffness ratio. Especially the use of composite laminates, made up of Carbon or Graphite Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP/GFRP), in military and commercial aircraft structures has progressed steadily over the past few decades. Drilling holes and making cutouts in these laminates are unavoidable for practical reasons. These holes (or) cutouts introduces stress concentration near the hole (or) cutout edge and reduces the load-bearing capacity of the structure. Cutouts are made at the edges of composite laminates for practical purposes, which is capable of reducing the delamination effect in notched laminates. The stress distribution in notched composite laminates can vary according to the location of the notch in the laminate, which leads to the variation in strength and reliability values of notched laminates. The objective of the present work is to study the effect of notch location on the stress concentration and reliability of notched composite laminates. Composite laminate displays significant variation in material and strength properties and the stress distribution in the laminate becomes stochastic in nature. Thus the notched laminates were analyzed using a stochastic approach and designed based on a reliability-based design approach.