Crack propagation in unidirectional fiber laminated composites

摘要

Finite element simulation was performed to study the crack propagation in laminated composite material. The main objective of this study is to determine the effect of the fiber orientation and the stacking sequences of the layers on the crack propagation of graphite/epoxy laminated composite specimens. Notched specimens of multi-layered unidirectional graphite/epoxy were loaded in tension to determine the direction of initial crack growth and the load required to cause initial crack growth. Also, a parametric study to optimize the stacking sequence to control the crack propagation is presented. The finite element results strongly agree with available experimental results for graphite/epoxy laminated composite.