Effect of delamination on the response of advanced composite laminates
Advanced composites are very susceptible to internal delamination failures. This report represents an attempt to understand the effects of delaminations of the stiffness-dominated response of a simple structural element, the beam column. Graphite-epoxy beam-column samples with various-length delaminations were tested in static bending, free vibrations, and buckling response. The finite-element method was used to corroborate the experimental results. Beam-theory models capable of analyzing delaminated cross-ply laminates composed of symmetric sublaminates were developed to allow efficient analysis of delamination effects. Both three- and four-point bending tests were used to determine the effect of delaminations on laminate bending stiffness. The delaminations did not cause any degradation of the four-point bending stiffness. However, the three-point bending stiffness test showed that the delamination did degrade the stiffness by as much as 34%. The effect of delaminations of the free-vibration response was determined using experimental modal analysis.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Irvine (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6334619
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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