Abstract
Open circular holes are an important design feature, for instance in bolted joint connections. However, stress concentrations arise whose magnitude depends on the material anisotropy and on the defect size relative to the outer finite plate dimensions. To design both safe and light-weight optimal structures, precise means for the assessment are crucial. These can be based on analytical methods providing efficient computation. For this purpose, the focus of the present paper is to provide a comprehensive stress and failure analysis framework based on analytical methods, which is also suitable for use in industry contexts. The stress field for the orthotropic finite-width open-hole problem under uniform tension is derived using the complex potential method. The results are eventually validated against Finite-Element analyses revealing excellent agreement. Then, a failure analysis to predict brittle crack initiation is conducted by means of the Theory of Critical Distances and Finite Fracture Mechanics. These failure concepts of different modelling complexity are compared to each other and validated against experimental data. The size effect is captured, and in this context, the influence of finite width on the effective failure load reduction is investigated.
Highlights
The open circular hole is a frequently used design feature, for instance, in bolted joint connections commonly idealised as superposition of the pin-load and open hole in the context of bearing-bypass load interaction [8]
Nguyen-Hoang and Becker [45] further use Finite Fracture Mechanics (FFM) to analyse the size effect for w/d = {2; 3} and to investigate to which extend the Theory of Critical Distances (TCD) may be applied in bolted-joints assessment
The present paper provides an efficient and comprehensive framework for the structural assessment of open holes in composite laminates with finite dimensions
Summary
The open circular hole is a frequently used design feature, for instance, in bolted joint connections commonly idealised as superposition of the pin-load and open hole in the context of bearing-bypass load interaction [8]. Nguyen-Hoang and Becker [45] further use FFM to analyse the size effect for w/d = {2; 3} and to investigate to which extend the TCD may be applied in bolted-joints assessment This is based on a preliminary stress calculus based on analytical means, which is enhanced yielding good agreement for isotropic bolted joints [47] and excellent correlation for open holes [44]. This accurate stress calculation methodology shall be extended to the orthotropic case and be used to conduct a failure analysis by means of TCD and FFM subsequently This allows to study the impact of finite laminate dimensions on the effective failure load reduction in the context of the size effect and to compare the two failure prediction concepts of different modelling complexity. The present paper provides an efficient and comprehensive framework for the structural assessment of open holes in composite laminates with finite dimensions
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