Analysis and determination of first ply failure of the composite laminate using different failure criteria

Abstract

This work relates to the first ply failure load investigation of composite laminate plates for different failure criteria under in-plane loading condition in two-dimensional spaces. In this context, first ply failure strengths investigated for different angle ply and number of the lamina. Writing a programme of FEM (finite element method) in MATLAB and calculating failure load for each lamina of the composite laminate by using various failure criteria such as max stress failure criterion, max strain failure criterion, Tsai-Hill, Tsai-Wu and Hoffman failure theory. Failure load calculated for three-ply composite laminate with [45°/-45°/45°] ply angle on the basis of these five failure theories shows very good conformity with the previous paper results. Kevlar/epoxy is taken for the calculation of first ply failure load with different ply orientation.