Effective shear modulus of a damaged ply in laminate stiffness analysis: Determination and validation

Abstract

The concept of the “effective stiffness” for plies in laminates containing intralaminar cracks is revisited presenting rather accurate fitting expressions for the effective stiffness dependence on crack density in the ply. In this article, the effective stiffness at certain crack density is back-calculated from the stiffness difference between the undamaged and damaged laminate. Earlier finite element method analysis of laminates with cracked 90-plies showed that the effective longitudinal modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the ply do not change during cracking, whereas the transverse modulus reduction can be described by a simple crack density dependent function. In this article, focus is on the remaining effective constant: in-plane shear modulus. Finite element method parametric analysis shows that the dependence on crack density is exponential and the fitting function is almost independent of geometrical and elastic parameters of the surrounding plies. The above independence justifies using the effective ply stiffness in expressions of the classical laminate theory to predict the intralaminar cracking caused stiffness reduction in laminates with off-axis plies. Results are in a very good agreement with (a) finite element method calculations; (b) experimental data, and (c) with the GLOB-LOC model, which gives a very accurate solution in cases where the crack face opening and sliding displacements are accurately described.