Interlaminar stress fields in circular cylindrical cross-ply laminated shells subjected to transverse loadings

Abstract

This paper aims at contributing to the field of efficient analysis methods by introducing a semi-analytical approach that enables the investigation of the three-dimensional stress fields in cylindrically curved cross-ply laminated shells subjected to different transverse loadings under consideration of the free-edge effect. The novel analysis method incorporates a closed-form elasticity solution that is superimposed with a layerwise approach, in which the three-dimensional displacement field is discretized with respect to the thickness direction. Lagrangian shape functions of various order are used to interpolate between the a priori unknown displacement functions in the discrete grid points of the numerical layers. Employing the principle of minimum total potential energy, yields a system of coupled ordinary differential equations which is solved by utilizing the state-space approach. The accuracy of the developed method is verified by comparison with existing analytical approaches in the literature and detailed three-dimensional finite element computations. In addition to a study of the out-of-plane stresses in a circular cylindrical fibre metal laminate (GLARE®), the effect of different radius to thickness ratios and length to thickness ratios on the distribution of the interlaminar stress field is investigated.