A T-shaped specimen for the direct characterization of orthotropic materials

Abstract

This paper deals with the definition of a new test specimen geometry for the direct measurement of the four in-plane stiffness components of orthotropic materials. The technique is based on a suitable use of the principle of virtual work. The choice and application of four different types of virtual kinematic fields leads to a system of equations that links the four stiffness components to the global force applied and geometry parameters. A numerical simulation based on finite element modelling is used to validate the approach. The stability of the process is also demonstrated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.