Nonlinear Thermo-Viscoelastic Analysis of Interlaminar Stresses in Laminated Composites

Abstract

A finite element formulation for analyzing interlaminar stress fields in nonlinear anisotropic viscoelastic laminated composites is presented including a hygrothermal formulation. Schapery’s single integral formulation is extended to account for viscoelastic anisotropy and multiaxial stress states. Numerical results obtained from the present formulation are compared against experimental data and excellent agreement is obtained between these results. As illustrative examples, inplane and interlaminar stresses for (45/-45)s T300/5208 laminate are also presented.