Nonlinear Theory for Composite Laminated Shells With Interfacial Damage

Abstract

Interfacial damage is incorporated in the proposed nonlinear theory. for composite laminated shells. A spring-layer model is employed to characterize damaged interfaces spanning from perfect bonding to different degrees of imperfect bonding in shear. By enforcing compatibility conditions for transverse shear stresses both at interfaces and on two bounding surfaces of a laminated shell, only five unknowns are needed for modeling its behavior. The principle of virtual work is used to derive the governing equations, which are of 14th order in lines of curvature coordinates, variationally self-consistent with seven prescribed boundary conditions. This theory includes the conventional higher-order zigzag model for a perfectly bonded shell as a special case. Numerical results provide a physical understanding of the effect of interracial damage on bending and buckling responses of composite laminated shells.