Author(s)

S. Noroozi, J. Vinney & G. Cardew

Abstract

Laminate theory, with an off-axis stiffness calculation, is widely used in commercial FEA software. This approach is based on the volume fraction law for unidirectional composites and usually involves calculating the contribution of individual local laminate properties to the total global properties of the composite material. The assumption here is that the individual layers are either orthotropic or homogeneous in nature with local axes being different from the global axes of the loading. This type of laminate theory restricts its application to the analysis of composite materials made from layers of orthotropic plies. The overall stiffness calculation is based on the sum of the contribution of all the layers, with their appropriate orientation being taken into account. It is quite obvious that there are limitat

Keywords