Effect of fibre orientation and stacking sequence on the interlaminar stresses of composite laminates

Abstract

The complexity of designing laminated composites requires an appropriate selection of the parameters that influence their mechanical properties, such as fiber orientation angles, stacking sequence, fiber volume fraction, and type of specially orthotropic lamina making the multi-layered composite. Since the interlaminar stresses have significant importance on the interlaminar damage occurrence on composite laminates such as delamination, the effect of their main parameters on the variation of interlaminar stresses needs special attention. The paper presents the numerical analysis of a balanced composite laminate subjected to a mode I fracture type. The results are presented in terms of interlaminar stress distribution on each ply of the multi-layered element.