Failure of Composite Laminates Containing Pin Loaded Holes—Method of Solution

Abstract

A method is presented for predicting the failure strength and the failure mode of fiber reinforced composite laminates containing one or two pin loaded holes. The method involves two steps. First, the stress distribution in the laminate is calculated by the use of a finite element method. Second, the failure load and failure mode are predicted by means of a proposed failure hypothesis together with the Yamada-Sun failure criterion. A computer code was developed which can be used to calculate the maximum load and the mode of failure of laminates with different ply orientations, different material properties, and different geometries. Tests were also conducted measuring the failure strengths and failure modes of Fiberite T300/1034-C laminates containing a pin-loaded hole or two pin-loaded holes in parallel or in series. Com parisons were made between the data and the results of the model. Good agreement was found between the analytical and the experimental results.