Application of the submodeling technique to the analysis of the edge effects of composite laminates

Abstract

This study deals with the edge effects in angle-ply composite laminates subjected to tensile test. The submodeling technique is used to achieve the numerical results. In a first step, a [45/–45]s laminated strip is studied, comparing the results with the previous approaches. The fulfilment of equilibrium equations by the stresses obtained numerically is studied to delimit the zone with inaccurate results due to the singularity of the problem. Antisymmetric configurations are analyzed enclosing the validity of the numerical results near the edges to the limits previously obtained. The aspect ratio and the orientation angle have been varied to analyze their effect.