J. Inst. Eng. India Ser.
C
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40032-018-0448-4
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION
Numerical Analysis of Stress Concentration in Isotropic
and Laminated Plates with Inclined Elliptical Holes
Abdelhak Khechai1 • Abdelouahab Tati2 • Mohamed Ouejdi Belarbi2
Abdelhamid Guettala1
Received: 2 November 2017 / Accepted: 19 February 2018
Ó The Institution of Engineers (India) 2018
Abstract The design of high-performance composite
structures frequently includes discontinuities to reduce the
weight and fastener holes for joining. Understanding the
behavior of perforated laminates is necessary for structural
design. In the current work, stress concentrations taking
place in laminated and isotropic plates subjected to tensile
load are investigated. The stress concentrations are
obtained using a recent quadrilateral finite element of
four nodes with 32 DOFs. The present finite element (PE)
is a combination of two finite elements. The first finite
element is a linear isoparametric membrane element and
the second is a high precision Hermitian element. One of
the essential objectives of the current investigation is to
confirm the capability and efficiency of the PE for stress
determination in perforated laminates. Different geometric
parameters, such as the cutout form, sizes and cutout ori-
entations, which have a considerable effect on the stress
values, are studied. Using the present finite element for-
mulation, the obtained results are found to be in good
agreement with the analytical findings, which validates the
capability and the efficiency of the proposed formulation.
Finally, to understand the material parameters effect such
as the orientation of fibers and degree of orthotropy ratio on
the stress values, many figures are presented using different
ellipse major to minor axis ratio. The stress concentration
values are considerably affected by increasing the orien-
tation angle of the fibers and degree of orthotropy.
& Abdelhak Khechai
abdelhak_khechai@hotmail.fr
1
Laboratory of Civil Engineering, University of Biskra,
BP 145, 07000 Biskra, Algeria
2
Laboratory of Energy Engineering and Materials, University
of Biskra, BP 145, 07000 Biskra, Algeria
•
Keywords Laminated composite  Stress concentration 
Inclined elliptical hole  Anisotropic effect
Introduction
Recently, composite materials are finding more applications
in different engineering fields, due to their high strength and
rigidity. The design of these structures frequently includes
discontinuities to reduce the weight and fastener holes for
joining. The presence of these discontinuities adversely
affect the stress values and distribution in these plates. Hence
it is very important, for the structural design, to know the
stress distribution around such cutouts [1–5]. The study of
stress concentration around openings is of great importance
and many investigations have been conducted to analyze and
get an idea about the effect of the notches presence on the
final laminate strength. Determination of the negative effect
of these cutouts on the global behaviors of composite lami-
nates is an important topic in engineering, because their
presence causes usually a relatively large reduction in failure
strength compared to unnotched plates. Generally, these
cutouts have a circular, square, elliptical or rectangular
cross-sections. For example, in civil engineering with the
construction of composite buildings, study of the fracture
mechanism and damage initiation in composite plates with
cutouts becomes a very urgent issue [6]. When the laminates
are subjected to different mechanical and thermal loading
conditions, high-stress concentrations will be produced
around the cutouts. With a view to studying the fracture
mechanism and fracture design, it is mandatory to be familiar
with the stress concentration factor (SCF) values for various
materials. Generally, the stress field in notched plates can be
determined using different analytical and numerical methods
such as the finite element method (FEM) [1, 4, 7–10].
123

For a long time, the determination of stress concentra-
tion and damage initiation in perforated composites has
been the focus of many investigators. In the literature, the
investigators have made huge efforts to study and deter-
mine the stress concentration effect in plates weakened by
various shaped cutouts. However, the presence of these
cutouts in laminated plates leads to more difficult and
complex analysis [2, 9]. Using various methods, numerous
researchers have attempted to analyze and determine the
SCF related to holes with various shapes, in composite
plates subjected to different loading conditions. Usually, it
is preferable to use circular or elliptical notches because
rectangular cutouts are often rejected because of the severe
stress that will be developed at the corner of the rectangular
cutout. For laminates weakened by a circular notch, there
are many studies using analytical and numerical methods
[6]. However, only few research works exist, in literature,
to determine the stress distribution in laminates weakened
by elliptical notches with different cutout orientations in
comparison to circular cutouts.
In literature, many studies regarding the stress deter-
mination can be found using mathematical (numerical or
analytical) approaches. Muskhelishvili method [11] can be
considered as one of the robust approaches for the ana-
lytical determination of stress concentration around not-
ches in infinite plates. This analytical approach is explained
in Muskhelishvili’s book [11] and in the classical mono-
graphs of elasticity [12–15].
During the sixties and seventies, Savin [16] and Lekhnitskii
[17] were the first researchers who applied Muskhelishvili
approach and put the fundamentals for what is known as
‘Lekhnitskii approach’. They provided analytical solutions for
isotropic and orthotropic structures weakened by various
shaped cutouts. Although Savin [16] used Schwarz-Chris-
tophe integral mapping to derive the stress functions, while
Lekhnitskii [17] obtained the stress functions by using Fourier
series, their solutions are the same. Some further references
for new applications of these approaches were given [18–28].
In addition, Sharma [29] also provided a general solution to
calculate the stresses in laminated plates weakened by circu-
lar, elliptical and triangular holes. His solution was provided
to obtain the stress distribution in plates subjected to an arbi-
trary biaxial load. This analytical solution can be considered
as an extension to the Muskhelisvili’s approach.
The other powerful technique to evaluate the stress
field in perforated laminates is the finite element method
[30, 31]. Khechai and Tati [32] studied numerically the
fiber orientation effects on stress values and failure
locations taking place around circular notches in lami-
nates. The obtained failure strengths of notched laminates
were compared to the failure strength of layers without
holes. On the other hand, many other researchers
attempted to evaluate the stress concentration developed
123
J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C
around variously shaped notches using special finite ele-
ments (Richards and Daniels [33], Nishioka and Atluri
[34], Piltner [35], Chen [21], Pan and Yang [36], and
Wang and Qin [6]). Chen [21] has developed a finite
element with a circular notch and Piltner [35] has intro-
duced a finite element with an elliptical shape. On the
other hand, Wang and Qin [6] have developed a finite
element for determining the stress field anisotropic plates
containing elliptical notches. To analyze the composite
laminates using this kind of elements, the special element
is used usually near to the cutout region in order to cal-
culate the stress field, while normal finite elements will be
used far from the notch location. More recent research
works regarding this topic are given [37–39].
The main objective of the present work is to calculate the
effect of some parameters on the stress concentration taking
place around notches in isotropic and laminated plates. This
study can be considered as an extension of the recent work
[40] carried out by the present authors. In the present
investigation, the quadrilateral finite element formulation
developed by Tati, et al [41] is used and the SCFs are
obtained. The present paper begins with the mathematical
formulation of the present element. The present element is a
combination of two elements. The first finite element is a
linear isoparametric membrane element and the second is a
high precision Hermitian finite element. In addition, in
order to determine the stress field in the vicinity of elliptical
cutouts in isotropic plates, a brief review of the analytical
solutions used in this study is presented. To assess the
capability and efficiency of the present finite element for-
mulation, several examples are studied. Several laminates
weakened by inclined notches, with various aspect ratios
a/b, are considered in this investigation. The calculated
stresses were found to be in good agreement with the
numerical and analytical findings given by Wang, et al [6]
and Sharma [29]. This validates and confirms the efficiency
of the proposed finite element. In order to understand the
fibers orientation and degree of orthotropy effects on the
stress concentration values, several figures are obtained and
presented for various ratios of a/b.
Finite Element Formulation
The displacement field [32, 41] according to the classical
laminated plate theory, based on the Kirchhoff assump-
tions, is given by the equations
ow
Uðx; y; zÞ ¼ u0 ðx; yÞ  z
ox
ow ð1Þ
Vðx; y; zÞ ¼ v0 ðx; yÞ  z
oy
Wðx; y; zÞ ¼ w0 ðx; yÞ
J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C

where u0, v0 and w0 are the mid-plane displacement The potential energy of a plate subjected to a distributed
components of the plate. The strain-displacement relations, transverse loading is given by
including the large deformations, can be determined as
8 Za=2 Zb=2
  9 8 9
>
> ou 1 ow 2 > > > o2 w > 0
V ¼ Pwðx; yÞdxdy ð6Þ
> > > >
8 9 > > ox þ 2 ox >
> >
> >  ox2 >
>
> >
>
> > > >  a=2 b=2
< ex >
> = > <  2 > = >
< 2 >
o w=
ey ¼ ov 1 ow þz  2
þ As the element is a combination of an isoperimetric
>
: >
; > > oy 2 oy > > >
> oy > >
cxy >
> >
> >
> >
> membrane element and a high precision plate element of
>
> ov ou ow ow >
> >
> o 2
w >
>
>
> >
> >
: 2 >
; Hermitian type, the interpolation functions Ni ðn; gÞ of the
: þ þ ;
n ox oy o ox oy oxoy coordinates and displacements through the element are
¼ e0L þ e0NL þzfkg ð2Þ given by
|fflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflffl} X
f eg xðn; gÞ ¼ ðNi ðn; gÞxi Þi¼1;4
X
yðn; gÞ ¼ ðNi ðn; gÞyi Þi¼1;4
By adopting the classical laminate theory, the forces N X
and moments resultants M are related to the mid-surface uðn; gÞ ¼ ðNi ðn; gÞui Þi¼1;4 ð7Þ
X
strains e0 and to the curvatures k by vðn; gÞ ¼ ðNi ðn; gÞvi Þi¼1;4
" #  ( 0 )
N ½A ½B e 1
¼ ð3Þ Ni ðn; gÞ ¼ ð1 þ nni Þð1 þ ggi Þ
M ½B ½D k 4
The transverse displacement w of the element of
where [A], [B] and [D] is the extensional, coupling and
reference is expressed as a product of one dimensional
bending rigidity matrix, respectively, which can be defined by
first order Hermitian interpolation polynomials.
h
Z2 ow ow o2 w
 

fA; B; Dg ¼ T ij 1; z; z2 dz
Q ð4Þ w ¼ H00 wi þ H10 þ H01 þ H11 ð8Þ
k on og onog
h2
where
With Q ij are the coefficients of elasticity of a layer in the 1
global coordinate system (x, y, z) of the laminate forming an H00 ¼ ðn þ n0 Þ2 ðnn0  2Þðg þ g0 Þ2 ðgg0  2Þ
16
angle h with the local coordinate system (Fig. 1). The 1
element has four nodes of eight degrees of freedom each. The H10 ¼  n0 ðn þ n0 Þ2 ðnn0  1Þðg þ g0 Þ2 ðgg0  2Þ
16
Cartesian and intrinsic coordinates are shown in Fig. 1. 1
The total potential energy of deformation of a plate H01 ¼ ðn þ n0 Þ2 ðnn0  2Þðg þ g0 Þ2 ðgg0  1Þ
16
subjected to a distributed transverse loading is given by 1
H11 ¼ n0 ðn þ n0 Þ2 ðnn0  1Þðg þ g0 Þ2 ðgg0  1Þ
P ¼ U þ V0 16
ð9Þ
The strain energy U of the element is given by
 0 T  0   0 T  ! The passage of the rectangular reference element to the
Za=2 Zb=2
1 eL ½A eL þ eL ½Bfkg þ fkgT ½B e0L real quadrilateral element requires the following
U¼  T dxdy
2 þ fkgT ½Dfkg þ e0NL ½N transformations
a=2 b=2

ð5Þ ow ow ox ow oy
¼ þ
on ox on oy on
ow ow ox ow oy
¼ þ
og ox og oy og
  ð10Þ
o2 w o2 w ox ox o2 w ox oy ox oy
¼ 2 þ þ
onog ox on og oxoy on og og on
o2 w oy oy ow o2 x ow o2 y
þ þ þ
oy2 on og ox onog oy onog
Then, after transformation, the interpolation functions of
the real element are written as
Fig. 1 Geometry and coordinate systems of rectangular laminated
composite plate

123
 J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C

ow ow o2 w o2 w which allows getting the following equilibrium equation

w ¼ Lw w þ Lhx þ Lhy þ Lhxy þ Lhxx 2 !
ox oy oxoy ox Z1 Z1
fSe gT ½AfSe g þ fSe gT ½BfSk g
o2 w ½Ke  ¼ jJjdndg
þ Lhyy ð11Þ þfSk gT ½BfSe g þ fSk gT ½DfSe g
oy2 1 1
ð17Þ
With
Lw ¼ H00
ox ox o2 x Description of Problem
Lhx ¼ H10 þ H01 þ H11
on og onog
oy oy o2 y The stresses given by the proposed finite element in perfo-
Lhy ¼ H10 þ H01 þ H11 rated isotropic and laminated composites are compared to the
on og onog
  ð12Þ available analytical findings. The laminates can be consid-
ox oy ox oy
Lhxy ¼ H11 þ ered as infinite plates if the notch size is small enough if one
on og og on compares it to the laminate dimensions. Thus, the stress field
ox ox evaluated numerically around the elliptical cutout can be
Lhxx ¼ H11
on og compared to the analytical distributions. In the present work,
oy oy the side length of the square plate is equal to 100 cm. Major
Lhyy ¼ H11
on og and minor axes of the cutout are 2a and 2b, respectively. Both
circle and crack notches are the special cases of the elliptical
The displacements state leads to 32 degrees of freedom
notch. The composite laminated plates are symmetric with
by element with 8 degrees of freedom by node and the
respect to the mid-plane. The layer’s thickness in the lami-
resulting displacement vector {q} is
 nate is equal to 0.01 cm.
ow ow o2 w o2 w o2 w Because of the geometric and the material symmetry,
fqg ¼ u; v; w; ; ; ; 2; 2 ð13Þ
ox oy oxoy ox oy i¼1;4 one quarter from the total domain is utilized to calculate
the stresses in both materials under consideration. More-
By introducing the interpolation polynomials into
over, because of the high-stress gradient in the region near
Eq. (5), the strain energy U of the element becomes
Z1 Z1 ! to the cutout, the mesh is refined in this region and ele-
1 T ½Se T ½A½Se  þ ½Se T ½B½Sk  ments with small sizes are adopted around the cutout, thus,
U¼ fqg fqgjJjdndg
2 þ ½Sk T ½B½Se  þ ½Sk T ½D½Sk  making this region adaptable to a high-stress gradient. The
1 1
remaining region is discretized with a coarse mesh to
ð14Þ
reduce computational requirements. To facilitate the com-
where parison between the results obtained numerically with the
 0
eL ¼ ½Se fqg analytical findings, a uniform uniaxial tensile loading of
ð15Þ r = 1 MPa is applied. Figure 2 shows the adopted mesh
fkg ¼ ½Sk fqg
and also the boundary conditions.
In which, {q}, [Se], and [Sk] are the resulting The numerical results obtained from the convergence
displacement vector of the element, the strain study are given in Fig. 3 and Table 1. From Fig. 3, one can
displacement matrix for membrane, bending, respectively. see clearly the speed convergence obtained by the proposed
|J| is the determinant of the Jacobian matrix. finite element for both notches under consideration. It is
Based on the principle of minimum potential energy, the shown that the circumferential stress values increase with
first variation provides the expression of the elementary the increase in the elements number, and the convergence
stiffness matrix [Ke]. is obtained when the finite elements number is equal to
The equilibrium configuration is defined by minimizing (36 9 72). This mesh configuration is used in the remain
the total potential energy which means the cancellation of examples as it gives satisfactory results.
the first variation
dP ¼ dU þ dV0
0 1
Z1 Z1 fSe gT ½AfSe g þ fSe gT ½BfSk g Remark
T@ AfqgjJjdndg
¼ foqg
T T
1 1
þfSk g ½BfSe g þ fSk g ½DfSe g
For orthotropic laminates, if the fibers orientation or the
Z1 Z1
 P ½LfoqgjJjjdndg ¼ 0
cutout inclination is different than 0° or 90°, the quarter of
1 1
the laminate cannot be used because the stress concentra-
ð16Þ tion changes its location [32], thus the entire plate is used.

123
J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C

plates. In these tests, the SCFs are calculated by consid-

ering different a/b ratios. Both numerical and analytical
results are given in Table 2. The third example is consid-
ered to confirm the capability and the performance of the
present formulation for evaluating the stresses and stress
distribution in laminated plates. These tests are analyzed to
determine the effects of the fibers orientation and the cutout
inclination angles on the stress concentration values. In
these examples also, the SCF is evaluated for various a/b
ratios. Eventually, to evaluate the degree of orthotropy
effect on the stress concentration values, some figures are
presented using various fibers orientations.

Isotropic Plates Weakened by Elliptical Cutouts

Fig. 2 The meshed configuration of the quarter model with the
boundary and loading conditions
Fig. 3 Mesh refinement results
Numerical Results
In this investigation, three different tests are considered to
validate the capability and performance of the proposed
element. First, isotropic plates with different aspect ratios
a/b are studied. The numerical findings given by the pro-
posed formulation are compared to the available numerical
and analytical findings. The second test is considered to
solve the problem of inclined elliptical notches in isotropic
Infinite isotropic plates weakened by elliptical cutouts
subjected to an arbitrary oriented uniaxial tension are
analyzed in this example. The mechanical properties of
these plates are E = 200 MPa, G = 80 MPa, and
v = 0.25. The infinite plate is idealized by a large square
plate with side length equal to 100 cm. The exact theo-
retical solution which was given by Forest, et al [42] and
Lan, et al [43] to determine the stress field at the vicinity of
an elliptical cutout in isotropic domain, subjected to a
tensile load can be calculated using the following equation
1  m2 þ 2m cos 2/  2 cos 2ða  /Þ
ra ¼ r ð18Þ
1  2m cos 2a þ m2
With
ab
m¼ ; 0m1 ð19Þ
aþb
where / is the load orientation with respect to x-axis.
For an isotropic plate subjected to a uniform tensile
stress parallel toy-direction (/ = p/2), the stress concen-
tration at the points (a, 0) and (0, b) is given by
 a
rmax
a ða ¼ 0Þ ¼ 1 þ 2 r
b ð20Þ
rmin
a ða ¼ p=2Þ ¼  r
Some computer programs were prepared using Fortran
for calculating the stress concentration in isotropic plates
weakened by elliptical cutouts. The stress concentration is
calculated using Eq. (18). As I mentioned before, isotropic

Table 1 Convergence of SCFs

Mesh Present element (PE) Sharma [29] Sharma [29]
(26 9 52) (28 9 56) (30 9 60) (32 9 64) (34 9 68) (36 9 72)

Circular 2.072 2.533 2.770 2.942 2.988 3.000 3.000 3.000

Elliptical 3.844 4.014 4.385 4.833 4.965 5.006 – 5.000

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 J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C

Table 2 SCFs for different rotation angles of the elliptical hole for various ratios of a/b
a/b Material Isotropic plates
Rotation angle b 0° 30° 45° 60° 90°
Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min

1 Exact 3.000 - 1.000 3.000 - 1.000 3.000 - 1.000 3.000 - 1.000 3.000 - 1.000
PE 3.000 - 1.006 3.000 - 1.006 3.000 - 1.006 3.000 - 1.006 3.000 - 1.006
2 Exact 2.000 - 0.999 2.859 - 1.108 3.621 - 1.121 4.329 - 1.079 5.000 - 1.000
PE 1.997 - 0.965 2.836 - 1.084 3.574 - 1.105 4.257 - 1.070 5.006 - 0.995
3 Exact 1.666 - 1.000 3.308 - 1.308 4.646 - 1.314 5.860 - 1.194 7.000 - 1.000
PE 1.667 - 0.940 3.257 - 1.270 4.541 - 1.294 5.686 - 1.188 7.047 - 0.997
4 Exact 1.500 - 1.000 3.910 - 1.536 5.769 - 1.519 7.437 - 1.312 9.000 - 1.000
PE 1.502 - 0.917 3.799 - 1.476 5.534 - 1.489 6.814 - 1.284 9.048 - 1.003
5 Exact 1.400 - 1.000 4.572 - 1.773 6.926 - 1.725 9.027 - 1.430 11.000 - 1.000
PE 1.404 - 0.873 4.372 - 1.686 6.509 - 1.685 8.461 - 1.427 11.110 - 1.011
9 Exact 1.222 - 1.000 7.401 - 2.757 11.669 - 2.559 15.453 - 1.900 19.000 - 1.000
PE 1.230 - 0.620 6.382 - 2.533 9.672 - 2.450 12.450 - 1.905 14.300 - 1.069
99 Exact 1.020 - 1.000 50.60 - 25.24 99.00 - 19.30 149.00 - 12.30 199.00 - 1.000
PE – – – – – – – – – –

plates with different a/b ratios are studied. In these
examples, the isotropic plates are subjected to tensile
load parallel to y-axis. For various values of the aspect
ratio a/b, the maximum SCFs obtained numerically, exact
solutions obtained by using Eq. (20) and Wang, et al [6]
are presented in Table 3.
One can see clearly, in Table 3 that the maximum error
is around 1.10%. This is indicating that the proposed finite
element can accurately evaluate the stress distribution in
the vicinity of the cutout, and the performance of the finite
element is validated.
Effect of Cutout Sizes and Notch Orientations
on Stress Distribution
To better understand the effect of the varying geometric
parameters, such as cutout shape, aspect ratio a/b and
cutout orientations, which affect significantly the stress
concentration values in notched isotropic plates containing
elliptical notches with various inclinations, the following
tests are considered. These plates are subjected to tensile
load parallel to x-axis. The elliptical cutouts can have an
arbitrary orientation angle b with respect to x-axis. Since
the considered plates are isotropic, both load and cutout
orientations have the same effect on the maximum stress
concentration values [44]. Consequently, the stress con-
centration can be evaluated by using the present analytical
solutions [Eq. (18)]. For each plate configuration, the notch
orientations b = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°, or the cutout
sizes a/b = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 99, which affect the stress
distributions and the stress concentration values are
analyzed.
The numerical stress concentration values evaluated,
using the present finite element, in the vicinity of the
elliptical cutout are presented in Table 2. As shown in this
table, the results are found to be in good agreement with
the analytical solutions. As an example, for an elliptical

Table 3 SCFs for different ratios of a/b

Material Isotropic plates
a/b 1 2 3 4 5
Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min

Exact 3.000 - 1.000 5.000 - 1.000 7.000 - 1.000 9.000 - 1.000 11.000 - 1.000
Wang, et al [6] 3.008 – 5.010 – 7.012 – 9.015 – 11.018 –
Present element 3.000 - 1.006 5.006 - 0.995 7.047 - 0.997 9.048 - 1.003 11.110 - 1.011
Percentage relative error, % 0.000 0.600 0.120 0.500 0.670 0.300 0.530 0.300 1.000 1.100

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J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C
hole (a/b = 9) has an inclinization angle b = 0°, the
maximum stress concentration values obtained numerically
and analytically are 1.230 and 1.222, respectively. The
absolute error found to be 0.654%.
To compare the results given, by the proposed element,
using various cutout orientation angles b and different
aspect ratios, the obtained stress values are shown in Fig. 4.
As presented in Fig. 4, one can see clearly that the stress
distribution is influenced significantly by changing the
cutout orientation values. Moreover, for various aspect
ratios, the values of stress concentration increase with the
increase in the cutout orientation angle. On the other hand,
the stress concentration values increase with the increase in
the aspect ratio values. Regarding the maximum values of
compressive stress, it is clear that, for different aspect
ratios, the stress concentration values are not influenced by
changes in the cutout orientations and the stress concen-
trations are quite similar. Also, one can note that the
highest value of compressive stress concentration is 2.53,
obtained when the aspect ratio is a/b = 9. On the other
hand, one can see in the same table that the results obtained
numerically found to be in good agreement compared to
the analytical findings.
Orthotropic Plates with Elliptical Cutouts
After validating the performance and the capability of the
present finite element, the third example is chosen to assess
the performance of the proposed formulation for the eval-
uation the stress field in composite plates weakened by
elliptical cutouts. In these examples, cross-ply laminated
plates made of Glass/Epoxy (E1 = 47.4 MPa,
E2 = 16.2 MPa, G12 = 7.0 MPa and v12 = 0.26) and
Fig. 4 Variation of SCFs for different rotation angles of the elliptical
hole
Graphite/Epoxy (E1 = 181.0 MPa, E2 = 10.3 MPa,
G12 = 7.17 MPa and v12 = 0.28) are investigated. The
laminated plates are subjected to tensile load parallel to
y-direction (Fig. 5). The dimensions of the square laminate
are selected to be the same as the plate dimensions used in
the first example.
Effect of Cutout Size and Notch Orientation
on Stress Distribution
In this section, the different parameters such as the cutout
orientation b = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°, and the notch
size a/b = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, which significantly affect the
stress values in the laminates are considered. For various
tests, the results given by proposed finite element are tab-
ulated in Tables 4 and 5.
For Glass/Epoxy laminated plates, one can note in
Table 4, that the highest values of tensile SCF are 10.210
and 16.450 obtained in the top and the bottom layers,
respectively. It can be noted also, in these both layers, that
the maximum tensile SCF decreases with the increase in
the elliptical hole orientation angle. For b = 90°, the
maximum tensile SCF values are equal to 1.367 and 1.623
obtained in both top and bottom layers, respectively. As
regards the maximum compressive stress, it can be ob-
served that the aspect ratio a/b = 5 gives the maximum
compressive SCFs which are 2.740 and 0.964 located on
both top and bottom layers, respectively.
For Graphite/Epoxy laminated, one may note in Table 5,
that the ratio a/b = 5 gives the highest tensile SCF values
which are 8.011 and 28.020 for both top and bottom layers,
Fig. 5 Square composite plate with a centered elliptical hole under
tension
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 J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C

Table 4 SCFs in Glass/Epoxy cross-ply laminate with different rotation angles of the elliptical hole for various ratios of a/b
Material Glass/Epoxy
Rotation angle b
a/b Fiber orientation 0° 30° 45° 60° 90°
Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min

1 0° 2.808 - 1.705 2.808 - 1.705 2.808 - 1.705 2.808 - 1.705 2.808 - 1.705
90° 4.114 - 0.582 4.114 - 0.582 4.114 - 0.582 4.114 - 0.582 4.114 - 0.582
2 0° 4.652 - 1.700 3.954 - 1.804 3.336 - 1.840 2.615 - 1.725 1.906 - 1.576
90° 7.215 - 0.584 5.819 - 0.624 4.782 - 0.644 3.656 - 0.610 2.537 - 0.567
3 0° 6.479 - 1.709 5.244 - 2.019 4.215 - 2.140 3.054 - 2.020 1.606 - 1.489
90° 10.300 - 0.589 7.728 - 0.689 6.007 - 0.747 4.132 - 0.737 2.031 - 0.553
4 0° 8.378 - 1.716 6.518 - 2.241 5.129 - 2.441 3.455 - 2.234 1.456 - 1.416
90° 13.450 - 0.594 9.478 - 0.755 7.208 - 0.855 4.606 - 0.831 1.776 - 0.541
5 0° 10.210 - 1.727 7.731 - 2.462 6.027 - 2.740 4.070 - 2.574 1.367 - 1.293
90° 16.450 - 0.600 11.180 - 0.822 8.406 - 0.964 5.387 - 0.980 1.623 - 0.518

Table 5 SCFs in Graphite/Epoxy cross-ply laminate with different rotation angles of the elliptical hole for various ratios of a/b
Material Graphite/Epoxy
Rotation angle b
a/b Fiber orientation 0° 30° 45° 60° 90°
Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min

1 0° 2.384 - 4.120 2.384 - 4.120 2.384 - 4.120 2.384 - 4.120 2.384 - 4.120
90° 6.727 - 0.243 6.727 - 0.243 6.727 - 0.243 6.727 - 0.243 6.727 - 0.243
2 0° 3.774 - 4.150 3.323 - 4.205 2.897 - 4.167 2.284 - 3.840 1.685 - 3.365
90° 12.340 - 0.242 9.030 - 0.256 7.419 - 0.265 5.638 - 0.253 3.766 - 0.235
3 0° 5.168 - 4.189 4.467 - 4.735 3.923 - 4.759 2.992 - 4.238 1.459 - 2.990
90° 17.680 - 0.247 11.710 - 0.282 9.233 - 0.307 6.290 - 0.309 2.872 - 0.231
4 0° 6.606 - 4.196 5.713 - 5.257 5.093 - 5.277 3.638 - 4.505 1.346 - 2.733
90° 23.060 - 0.250 13.900 - 0.308 10.740 - 0.350 6.946 - 0.352 2.415 - 0.228
5 0° 8.011 - 4.192 6.986 - 5.750 6.191 - 5.733 4.511 - 4.949 1.278 - 2.361
90° 28.020 - 0.254 16.030 - 0.335 12.350 - 0.395 8.028 - 0.418 2.138 - 0.222

respectively. One can note also, in both layers, that the
maximum tensile SCF decreases with the increase of the
elliptical notch orientation. For b = 90°, the maximum
tensile SCFs are equal to 1.278 and 2.138 for the top and
the bottom layers, respectively. As regards the maximum
compressive stress, one can note that the elliptical hole
orientation b = 45° gives the maximum compressive SCFs
which are equal to 5.733 and 0.395 for both the top and the
bottom layers, respectively.
Based on the curves shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the obtained
results demonstrate that the stress concentration values are
influenced considerably by changing the aspect ratio val-
ues. One can clearly see that the results of stress concen-
tration increase linearly with the increase of the aspect
ratio. Moreover, for compressive stress concentration
values, one can note also that, for different values of aspect
ratio, the stress concentration values are not influenced.
For both the materials Glass/Epoxy and Graphite/Epoxy,
it can be seen, as presented in Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11, that the
stress concentration is influenced significantly by the cut-
out orientation angle. It can be seen that, for various aspect
ratio values, the stress concentration values decrease with
the increase in the cutout inclination angle. Again, for the
maximum values of compressive SCFs, for different ratios
of a/b, the SCFs are not influenced by the changes in the
cutout orientation angle, and the stress concentration values
are almost similar. From Tables 4 and 5, for h = 90°, the
maximum values of stress concentration obtained by using
Glass/Epoxy are found to be small compared to the results
found using Graphite/Epoxy.

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J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C
Fig. 6 Effect of a/b ratio on SCFs in Glass/Epoxy plates b = 0°
under y-axis tension
Fig. 7 Effect of a/b ratio on SCFs in Graphite/Epoxy plates
b = 0° under y-axis tension
Fiber Orientation Effect on Stress Distribution
In this section, a parametric study which aims to under-
stand the fibers orientation and the cutout size effects on
the stress values, developed in Glass/Epoxy plates, is
considered. In this example, the single layers are subjected
to uniaxial tensile loads parallel toy-axis as presented in
Fig. 5. For various ratios of a/b = 1, 2, and 3, the maxi-
mum tensile and compressive SCFs corresponding to dif-
ferent orientations of fiber ranging from 0° to 90° are given
in Table 6.
As presented in Fig. 12, for both cutouts under consid-
eration, the obtained findings demonstrate that the stress
concentration is influenced significantly by changes in the
fibers orientations. Also, by increasing the values of fiber
Fig. 8 Variation of SCFs in Glass/Epoxy plates (h = 0°) under
y-axis loading for different rotation angles of the elliptical hole
Fig. 9 Variation of SCFs in Glass/Epoxy plates (h = 90°) under
y-axis loading for different rotation angles of the elliptical hole
orientation angles, there are increases in the maximum
values of tensile stresses, whereas the maximum com-
pressive stress concentration decreases [45]. On the other
hand, it can be seen also that, the maximum tensile stress
increases as the aspect ratio a/b increases for all notched
plates under consideration. Moreover, the maximum com-
pressive stress values are almost the same.
Effect of Degree of Orthotropy on Stress
Concentration Values
As a result of our previous tests, the maximum stress
concentration values vary as the fibers orientation changes.
Additionally, the SCFs also change, depending on the ratio
of the elasticity modulus E1/E2. In this section, a
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 J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C

Table 6 Effect of fiber orientation angles on SCFs in Glass/Epoxy

laminate for various ratios of a/b
Material Glass/Epoxy
a/b 1 2 3
Fibre orientation Present Present Present element
angle element element
Max Min Max Min Max Min

0 2.828 - 1.693 4.652 - 1.700 6.479 - 1.709

5 2.820 - 1.658 4.637 - 1.666 6.457 - 1.673
10 2.798 - 1.592 4.594 - 1.600 6.395 - 1.613
15 2.744 - 1.538 4.448 - 1.575 6.304 - 1.549
20 2.710 - 1.490 4.383 - 1.520 6.198 - 1.477
25 2.676 - 1.417 4.323 - 1.452 6.094 - 1.409
Fig. 10 Variation of SCFs in Graphite/Epoxy plates (h = 0°) under 30 2.649 - 1.345 4.283 - 1.375 5.98 - 1.391
y-axis loading for different rotation angles of the elliptical hole
35 2.666 - 1.269 4.317 - 1.293 5.929 - 1.311
40 2.675 - 1.184 4.417 - 1.206 6.123 - 1.226
45 2.791 - 1.098 4.588 - 1.117 6.376 - 1.139
50 2.951 - 1.010 4.821 - 1.028 6.958 - 1.051
55 3.144 - 0.922 5.231 - 0.941 7.435 - 0.963
60 3.345 - 0.831 5.595 - 0.844 7.999 - 0.863
65 3.501 - 0.759 5.985 - 0.771 8.432 - 0.789
70 3.649 - 0.697 6.266 - 0.705 8.880 - 0.723
75 3.787 - 0.639 6.544 - 0.649 9.296 - 0.662
80 3.918 - 0.604 6.846 - 0.609 9.718 - 0.618
85 4.038 - 0.586 7.100 - 0.589 10.130 - 0.593
90 4.114 - 0.582 7.215 - 0.584 10.300 - 0.589

presented in Figs. 13 and 14. As shown in these figures, when

Fig. 11 Variation of SCFs in Graphite/Epoxy plates (h = 90°) under
y-axis loading for different rotation angles of the elliptical hole
parametric study is presented to analyze and understand the
degree of orthotropy effect on the stress concentration
values developed at the boundary of the cutout. In this case,
the corresponding fiber orientation angles are ranging from
0° to 90° with 15° as an increment. Glass/Epoxy plates
with elliptical notches (a/b = 2) are used in this investi-
gation. The single layer plates are subjected to in-plane
tensile loads parallel toy-axis as shown in Fig. 5. For dif-
ferent fiber orientations, various stress concentration values
are obtained using different modulus E1/E2 ratios. The
material proprieties in this study are E1 = d, E2 = 1, G12/
E2 = 0.5, and v12 = 0.25 with d ranging from 2 to 100.
Considering these cases, the maximum values of SCF
developed on the boundary of cutout, corresponding to var-
ious modulus ratios E1/E2, ranging from 2 to 100 are
the fiber orientations are between 0° and 45°, the maximum
stress concentration values are not affected much by the
changes in the degree of orthotropy ratio and the SCFs are
quite similar. But when the fibers orientation angles are 60°,
75° and 90°, the maximum stress concentration is influenced
significantly by the increase in the degree of orthotropy ratio.
It can be noted also that the stress concentration values
increase with the increase of the anisotropic ratio (Fig. 13).
The fiber orientation angle 90° gave the highest stress con-
centration value. When h = 90° and E1/E2 = 100, the SCF
is equal to 28.29. The situation is vice versa for the negative
stress concentration values (Fig. 14). The stress values show
no significant changes by changing in the modulus ratio for
30°, 60°, 75° and 90° fiber orientation, while 0° gave the
highest value of stress. When the fiber orientation angle
h = 0° and the modulus ratio E1/E2 = 100, it reaches
- 10.53. From Figs. 13 and 14, it can be noticed that the
fiber angles have no influence on the stress concentration
values for E1/E2 = 2. The positive stress concentration is
almost 5, and the negative value is 1.

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J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C
Fig. 12 Effect of fiber orientation angle on SCF in Glass/Epoxy
plates
Fig. 13 Maximum tensile SCFs for different orientation angles
against modulus ratio
Conclusion
The evaluation of the stress concentration taking place in
isotropic as well as in laminated composite plates with
circular and elliptical cutouts, subjected to uniaxial tensile
stress, was examined in this work. The main goal was to
investigate numerically the effect of some geometric and
material parameters on the stress concentration values
developed in perforated laminates. A quadrilateral finite
element recently developed is used in this work to evaluate
the stress distribution. Analytical studies are also conducted
to understand the effects of cutout shape, notch sizes and
cutout orientation; on the values of stress concentration. On
the other hand, to show the fibers orientation effect on the
stress concentration values, Glass/Epoxy and Graphite/
Epoxy layers are studied. The obtained results indicate that
Fig. 14 Maximum compressive SCFs for different orientation angles
against modulus ratio
the stress concentration developed in the notched laminates
can be significantly influenced by the cutout shape, cutout
sizes and cutout orientation. It was observed that, the stress
concentration values increase with the increase in the aspect
ratio and the cutout orientation angle. For composite plates,
the values of stress concentration in Glass/Epoxy laminates
are less than the stress concentration developed in Graphite/
Epoxy plates. However, for different fiber orientation
angles, the stress concentration developed around elliptical
notches (a/b = 2 and 3) are always more than the corre-
sponding values obtained for circular cutout (a/b = 1).
Also, the stress concentration values increase with the
increase of the fiber orientations.
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