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Material Stiffness and Strength Data is Input in the green cells as shown.
The label ‘Units’ is just to remind you, along with the description at top right, no
checking is done on units
The layup datum direction is along the x axis, so a load applied in-plane in x, to a
single 0 degree ply, will be uniaxial, along the fibers.
Ten ply variations are available, but the number of plies per ‘layer’ can be varied to
give some versatility
In this example a [0/90/45/-45/]s layup is used. Each ply is 1e-4 m thick, but ply
1 and 8 have 4 times the number of plies, i.e. a thickness of 4e-4 m each.
Ply 9 and 10 are ignored in the calculation as the number of plies is set to 0.
Total Layer and Layup thickness is checked, don’t overwrite the yellow summary
cells
NAFEMS. The International Association for the Engineering Analysis Community
FETraining - Your Partner in FEA Training and Consultancy www.fetraining.com
Composite Analysis Ply Calculator V5.0 Page 4
Calculations – summary output
The total in-plane and bending strains for the whole layup are output in
length/length and percentage strain. These are in global x-y coordinates
Ply local stresses and the ply FI and SR using Tsai-Wu are tabulated. The
calculations for these are all exposed on the backing sheets.
The Qbar and A, B, D matrix terms are calculated ply by ply and summed
Ply stresses and strains are calculated in the local ply coordinate system
Results are passed back to the main page
FI using Tsai Wu is calculated, and the corresponding quadratic roots give the SR,
ply by ply. These values are passed back to the main page.
This macro forces the worst SR and FI to be 1.0, by scaling all terms in the
loading vector by 1.0
Use the following material properties to create a single ply FEA test
coupon.
Carbon/Epoxy (AS4/3501‐6)
The ply end is held axially, but free to shrink due to Poisson’s effect
The ply orientation is varied from 0 degrees (aligned with the long axis)
to 90 degrees ( aligned with the short axis)
Plot the failing load against ply angle, using the Tsai-Wu criterion
Plot the sigma1, sigma2 and sigma12 stresses against ply angle
Alternatively use the stress terms given below if you do not have
access to an FEA solver
P
1 cos 2
A
P
2 sin 2
A
P
12 sin cos
A
Experiment with values of F12 term between 0.5 and -0.5 in the Tsai Wu
criterion, ensuring you normalize the whole term
Metric Version
Step 1. In ply calculator enter material properties and ply 1 data (theta = 0.0 t
= 0.00381m)
The terms are tedious to calculate so we will use part of the Ply Calculator
Spread Sheet to evaluate an example from reference [1].
Note > E1
Note > E2
[1] Introduction to Composite Material Design. Barbero. CRC 1999, page 115
NAFEMS. The International Association for the Engineering Analysis Community
FETraining - Your Partner in FEA Training and Consultancy www.fetraining.com
Composite Analysis Ply Calculator V5.0 Page 25
LAMINATE ANALYSIS – IN PLANE
We now want to consider off-axis plies, where the with-fiber angle can be
arbitrary.
Using the example in Reference [1], by including angle theta -55 degrees:
For arbitrary coordinates the Stress-Strain relationship for kth ply of a layup are:
[-55/55/0/0/55/-55] or [-55/55/0]symm
The A matrix summation is shown. Notice that the shear coupling terms go to
zero, as the layup is balanced
The ply 1 and 6 angles are changed to remove the balanced condition
Layup is 0/90/90/0
365 N
214 N
668 N
NAFEMS. The International Association for the Engineering Analysis Community
FETraining - Your Partner in FEA Training and Consultancy www.fetraining.com
Composite Analysis Ply Calculator V5.0 Page 39
Buckling in Composites
Hand Calculation
D22 2 D11 b
2 2
D 2 D 1 a
2
N x cr m 2
12 66
2
b D22 a
2
D22 m b
N x cr Load per unit width
N x cr 288N
This assumes one half wave as per the FEA, but is quite innacurate
However relative buckling loads are acceptable, based on D11, D22, D66,D12
estimates