International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

Bending of composite plate weakened by square hole

Nirav P Patel a, Dharmendra S Sharma b,n
a
b

Mechanical Engineering Department, Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Gandhinagar-Sarkhej Road, Ahmedabad 382481, Gujarat, India
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara 390001, Gujarat, India

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 11 December 2014
Received in revised form
12 February 2015
Accepted 28 February 2015
Available online 9 March 2015

The present analytic investigations emphasizes on the effect of stacking sequence, ply groups, loading
angles, materials and corner radii on the failure strength and moment distribution in symmetric
laminated composite plate weakened by a square hole. The generalized close form solution of bending
moment around such cut-out is presented by using the Muskhelishvili's complex variable formulation.
The layer wise stresses and failure strengths are studied and the failure strengths of laminates are
investigated.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Bending
Complex variable approach
Failure strength
Flexural moduli
Symmetric laminate

1. Introduction
The multilayered plates are being essentially used in industries
ranging from space vehicles, aircrafts, biomedical to transportations, house buildings and electronics packaging due to their
superiorities like, high strength and light weight. Generally, holes/cut-outs are built into these plates, result into strength degradation. In order to exploit their advantages, the appropriate
mathematical tools that deal with their peculiar anisotropic
behavior especially when weakened with cutouts, are imperative.
By using various mathematical models, extensive studies have
been made on structural analysis of these plates globally and nd
applications. Goodier [1] and Reissner [2] have studied the
moment distribution around circular hole in thin isotropic plate
subjected to bending loading. In case of thick isotropic plates,
Naghdi [3], and Chen and Archer [4] have presented the solution of
stress concentration around circular hole due to bending.
Among all mathematical models, complex variable method [5] is
one of the efcient tool to study these plates containing simply or
multiply connected domains. By using Muskhelishvili's complex
variable approach [5], the problem of stress concentration around
various shaped holes for isotropic innite media subjected to in-plane
loading was solved by many researchers like Savin [6] (circular,
elliptical, square, and rectangular cut-outs), Lekhnitskii [7] (circular
and elliptical cut-outs), Theocaris and Petrou [8] (triangular cut-out),

Corresponding author. Tel.: 91 9879472897.

E-mail addresses: nirav_npp@yahoo.com (N. Patel),
dss_iit@yahoo.com (D. Sharma).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2015.02.021
0020-7403/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ukadgaonker and Awasare [912] (circular, elliptical, triangular, and

rectangular), Rezaeepazhand and Jafari [13] (polygonal cut-out),
Batista [14] (polygonal cut-out) and Sharma [15] (polygonal cut-out),
etc. The stress distribution is also obtained around circular [7,16],
elliptical [1619], triangular [2022], square and rectangular [23], and
irregular cut-outs [2426] in composite media subjected to in-plane
loading.
The problems of moment distribution around different shaped
discontinuities have also been studied. Savin [6] has obtained
moment distribution around circular, elliptical, triangular and square
hole in innite isotropic media. Ukadgaonker and Rao [27] have
given the general solution for the bending of symmetric laminates
based on the formulation of Savin [6] and Lekhnitskii [7].
For the structural analysis of plates, the study of loading
conditions, geometry of cuts-outs, material properties is indispensable as the behavior of these plates strongly depend on them
[2729]. The effects of these parameters have been studied around
circular [27], polygonal [28], elliptical and triangular hole [29] in
isotropic [28] and anisotropic plates [27,29] by using a complex
variable method [5]. Hsieh and Hwu [30] used Stroh-like formulation for the solution of bending in the anisotropic case. The
solutions of moment distribution around circular, elliptical hole
and inclusion were given.
To the best of author's knowledge, only few research articles
have reported the moment distribution around regular/irregular
holes for anisotropic media. Ukadgaonker and Rao [27], and
Sharma and Patel [29] have investigated the effect of stacking
sequence on moment distribution around circular [27], elliptical
and triangular hole [29] in symmetric laminated plate. The effects
of various parameters such as stacking sequence, loading angles,

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N.P Patel, D.S Sharma / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

ply groups, materials and corner radii on the moment distribution

and failure strength in case of laminated plates weakened by a
square hole are not investigated. In addition to these, the failure
strength of composite plate containing a cut-out, under bending
loading is also not addressed.
In this study, the values of moments and failure strengths of
symmetric laminated plates containing a square hole subjected to
bending loading are investigated. The mathematical model of rst
ply failure theory is used to calculate failure strength of laminate
under bending loading. The stresses and TsaiHill strengths are
described for each layer of laminate. The inuence of various
parameters such as stacking sequences, ply groups, corner radii,
materials and loading angles is investigated.
Fig. 1. Plate with square hole.

2. Complex variable formulations

3 1 ; 4 2 :

The thin laminated innite plate of thickness h, made up of N

no. of layers, subjected to bending loading, is considered (refer
Fig. 1). Each layer is considered to be orthotropic with uniform
thickness and perfectly bonded together.
By considering (x, y) as off-axis and (1, 2) as a principal material
axis, the transformation equations for kth layer is employed as:
2
3
2 2
31
Q xx Q xy 2Q xs
c
s2
2cs
6Q
6
7
7
c2  2cs 5
4 yx Q yy 2Q ys 5 4 s2
2
2
Q sx Q sy 2Q ss
 cs cs c  s k
k
2
3
E1
12 E1
2 2
3
0
c
s2
2cs
6 1  12 21 1  12 21
7
6 21 E2
7
6
7
E2
0 7 4 s2
1
c2  2cs 5 ;
6 1  12 21 1  12 21
4
5
2
2
1

s
cs
cs
c
0
0
k
2G12

By taking the general equation of deection in terms of

arbitrary and analytic functions, F1(1) and F2(3) as
wx; y 2F 1 1 F 2 2 ;

7
i

where l number of terms, e ,

n

where Q ij i; j x; y; s are the stiffness coefcients referred to offaxis x  y of kth ply, derived from the Young moduli, Ei i 1; 2,
the Poisson ratios, ij i; j 1; 2; the shear moduli, Gij i; j 1; 2,
c cos and s sin , is ber orientation of kth ply.
For the plate subjected to bending, stresses x ; y ; xy in x and
y direction can be expressed in-terms of deection wx; y (deection of the mid-plane in the direction of z-axis) as follows:
2
3
2
3 2
3
Q xx Q xy Q xs
x
w;xx
6 7
6
7 6
7
2
4 y 5  z4 Q yx Q yy Q ys 5 4 w;yy 5;
Q sx Q sy Q ss
xy
2w;xy
k

where z distance from top plane of a lamina to the mid plane of

the laminate and w;ij i; j x; y are the curvatures 1 ; 2 ; 3 of
laminate.
The moments in x and y directions, M x ; M y and M xy (per unit
length of the mid plane) can be obtained by taking:
2
3
2
3
2
3 2
3
x
w;xx
Mx
Z t Q xx Q xy Q xs
Z t
2
2
6M 7
6 7
6Q
7
6
7
4 y 5
4 y 5 zdz 
4 yx Q yy Q ys 5 4 w;yy 5z2 dz
 2t
 2t
Q sx Q sy Q ss
M xy
xy
2w;xy
2

F xx
6
 4 F yx
F sx

F xy
F yy
F sy

32

w;xx
F xs
6
7
F ys 7
54 w;yy 5;
F ss
2w;xy

where tthickness of laminate and F ij i; j x; y; s are known as

exural stiffness.
Using Eq. (3) and equilibrium equation, the following 4th order
characteristic equation can be obtained [8]:


F xx w;xxxx 4F xs w;xxxy 2 F xy 2F ss w;xxxy 4F ys w;xyyy F yy w;yyyy 0:
4
The roots of Eq. (4) are

1 1 i1 ; 2 2 i2 ;

where j x j y; j 1; 2. The values of j j 1; 2 can be

obtained by transforming the area external to given hole in plane to unit circle -plane by generalized transformation function
given below:
"
!
!#
l
l
X
X
R
4n  1
1  4n
j Aj  1
cn
cn
Bj
; j 1; 2;
2
n1
n1

 f4p  1  2g
Cn

p1
n

4 4n 1n!

Aj 1 ij and Bj 1  ij . The corner radius (r) of the square hole

can be related to number of terms (l) by r 0:1; l 1; r
0:0417; l 2; r 0:0240; l 3; r 0:0161; l 4 and r
0:0117; l 5.
Now, moments can be calculated by putting the values from
Eq. (6) into Eq. (3):
2
3
'
'
2
3
2
3
2 1 2 
Mx
F xx F xy F xs
6
7
6M 7
6
76
7
'
'
8
4 y 5  4 F yx F yy F ys 56 221 1 22 2  7;
4
5
M xy
F sx F sy F ss
'
'
41 1 2 2 
where 1 dF 1 =d 1 ; 2 dF 2 =d 2 :
Here, 1 and 2 are the stress functions calculated by
using method of superposition [5]:

1 1 1 2 1 ;
2 1 2 2 2 :

The stress functions 1 1 and 1 2 can be expressed as

follows:

1 1 1 ;
1 2 n 2 ;

10

where B iC and B iC . Here, the rotation is restricted

n
so, CQ0. Now, the constants, and can be calculated by using
following equations:
2 3 2
3 2 13
E11 E12 E13  1 M x
B
6 n 7 6E
7 6 M1 7
7
4 B 5 4 21 E22 E23 5 6
4 y 5;
1
n
M
E
E
E
C
31
32
33
xy
n

E11 2F xx L21  L22 F xy 2L1 F xs ;

N.P Patel, D.S Sharma / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

E12 2F xx L23  L24 F xy 2L3 F xs ;

The moments obtained about Cartesian coordinate system xy

(M x ; M y ; M xy ) are transformed into an orthogonal curvilinear
coordinate system constant, constant (M ; M ; M ) using
the transformation relations.

E13  22L3 L4 F xy 2L4 F xs ;

E21 2F xy L21  L22 F yy 2L1 F ys ;
E22 2F xy L23  L24 F yy 2L3 F ys ;
E23  22L3 L4 F yy 2L4 F ys ;

3. Failure strength calculations

E31 2F xs L21  L22 F xy 2L1 F ss ;

E32 2F xs L23  L24 F xy 2L3 F ss ;
E33  22L3 L4 F xy 2L4 F ss ;
L1 1 ; L2 Im1 ;
L3 2 ; L4 Im2 ;
1
M1
x ; My

11

M1
xy

and
are the moments applied at innity that
where
can be calculated by employing Gao's arbitrary biaxial loading
conditions [18] in which various boundary conditions can be
obtained by considering different combinations like, 0;
0
900 (cylindrical bending about-X axis, M 1
x 1); 0; 0
(cylindrical bending about-Y axis, M 1

1);

1;

0
(pure
y
0
1
1
bending, M 1
x M y 1) and  1; 45 (twisting, M xy 1),
where and is biaxial loading factor and loading angle respectively.
Now, boundary conditions around the ctitious hole due to
applied moments at innity, can be obtained:


p
q n
1
f 1 1 1 1 2 ;

1
f2



n
p2 1 q2 2 ;

12

The procedure to calculate failure strength of symmetric

laminated plate weakened by a square hole is presented below.
First, curvatures ( 1 w;xx ; 2  w;yy ; 3  2w;xy ) around
the hole are calculated by using Eq. (3):
  F   1 M :

p1 F xx F xy 21 2F xs 1 ; q1 F xx F xy 22 2F xs 2 ;

where k lamina number from the middle layer of laminate and

N total number of layers. Now, from the values of stresses, the
failure strength of each lamina is calculated by using TsaiHill
failure criterion:
8  2
91
 2
 2

>
>
< N 1 x;N
=
N 2 y;N
N3 xy;N

2
2
2






2f ;N
;

>
: N 4 x;N 4 y;N N5 y;N 4xy;N N 6 x;N 4xy;N >
;

N1
N2

p2 F xy F yy 21 2F ys 1 ; q2 F xy F yy 22 2F ys 2 :
By introducing the values of 1 and 2 into above equations
2
and considering negative of the boundary conditions (f 1 
1 2
1
f 1 ; f 2  f 2 ) on the hole boundary, the stress functions
(2 ; 2 ) can be obtained by using Schwarz formula [6]:
"
#
l
X
1
a1
1  4n
2
b1
cn
;
p1 q2 2  p2 q1 1
n1
"
#
l
X
 2
a2
1  4n
2
b2
cn
;
13
p1 q2 2  p2 q1 1
n1
where





a1 q1 k3 k4  q2 2 k1 k2 ; b1 q1 k4 k3  q2 2 k2 k1 ;




a2 p1 k3 k4 p2 1 k1 k2 ; b2 p1 k4 k3  p2 1 k2 k1 ;




R p1
q
R p1
q
k1
A1 1 n A2 ; k2
B1 1 n B2 ;
2 1
2 1
2
2



R
R
n
n
k3 p2 A1 q2 A2 ; k4 p2 B1 q2 B2 :
2
2
Final stress functions are obtained by superposition of stress
function from Eqs. (10) and (13). The resultant moments and
torque around the hole are:
2
3 2 13 2
32
3
Mx
F xx F xy F xs
Mx
22' 1 2' 2 
6
7
1
6 M 7 6M 7 6F
76
7
2
2
4 y 5 4 y 5  4 yx F yy F ys 54 21 2' 1 2 2' 2  5;
1
M xy
M xy
F sx F sy F ss
41 2' 1 2 2' 2 
14

'

'2
2' 1
; ' z1 ;
'
'
1

1'

d 1
d 2
; 2'
:
d
d

15

The values of stresses (Eq. (2)) are calculated by using the

values of curvatures (Eq. (15)) for each ply as follows:
 
k-N=2  zQ k-N=2 k ;
16

where

where

133

N3
N4
N5
N6

c4

s4

Xt

Yt

X 2t

s4

c4

Xt

Yt

8c2 s2


2

4c2 s2

X 2t
Y 2t
 2
2
 c  s2
X 2t


2

 3

6cs 2c3 s
X 2t

 3

6c s 2cs3
X 2t




c2 s2 2 ;
!

c2 s2 2 ;

X 2t
 2
2
c s2
S2

Yt

S2



2

4c3 s
Y 2t
4cs3
Y 2t

c cos k ; s sin k ;

c 2 s2

X 2t
!

2 ;

2c2 s2 2 ;
2c3 s  2s3 c
S2
2cs3  2sc3
S2

!

2;
!

2;
17

where k ber orientation of kth ply, X t longitudinal strength in

tension, Y t transverse strength in tension and S shear strength.
The minimum value of the strength around the hole will give the
failure strength of a particular ply. At the end, the rst ply failure
phenomenon is considered that means the ply with the lowest
failure strength is considered to be weakest among all plies and
the failure strength of this lamina is considered as the overall
strength of laminate:


f min f ;1 ; f ;2 :: f ;N :
18

4. Results and discussion

The objective of the present work is to investigate the inuence
of various parameters such as, staking sequence, materials, loading
angles, corner radii and ply groups on the moment distribution
and failure strength around a square hole for symmetric laminated
plate. In addition to these, layer wise stresses and failure strengths
around hole are also studied. The moments are calculated by using
Muskhelishvili's complex variable formulation (Eq. (14)) and the
failure strength is obtained by applying rst ply failure theory (Eq.
(18)). The mathematical formulation has been coded and results

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N.P Patel, D.S Sharma / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

Table 1
Properties of various materials.
Carbon/epoxy

Kevlar/epoxy

Glass/epoxy

E1 131:6 GPa; E2 10:8 GPa;

12 0:28; G12 5:65 GPa;
X t 200 MPa;
Y t 61 MPa;
S 70 MPa;

E1 87 GPa; E2 5:5 GPa;

12 0:34; G12 2:2 GPa;
X t 1280 MPa;
Y t 30 MPa;
S 49 MPa;

E1 38:6 GPa; E2 8:27 GPa;

12 0:26; G12 4:14 GPa;
X t 1062 MPa;
Y t 31 MPa;
S 72 MPa;

X t longitudinal strength in tension, Y t transverse strength in compression and S shear strength.

Fig. 4. Moment distribution around square hole (r 0:0161) for graphite/epoxy

symmetric laminate plate.
Fig. 2. Flexural moduli (F xx ; F yy ) for various ply groups of carbon/epoxy.

Fig. 3. Moment distribution around square hole (r 0:1) for isotropic plate
subjected to twisting.

are obtained for carbon/epoxy, kevlar/epoxy and glass/epoxy

symmetric laminated plate (Table 1) subjected to various loading
conditions (cylindrical bending about-X axis, cylindrical bending
about-Y axis, pure bending and twisting). Here, 16 layered symmetric laminate (thickness of each ply0.0125 mm) of cross ply
((04/904)S, (02/902)2S and (0/90)4S) and angle ply ((454/ 454)S,
(452/ 452)2S and (45/  45)4S) are considered for the present study.
Here, the complex parameters depend upon the values of
exural moduli (F ij ; i; j x; y; s) (Eq. (4)). The variations of these
moduli are addressed as the number of ply group increases (Fig. 2).
It is observed that as number of ply group increases the value of
F xx and F yy converges towards one value. The result is plotted for

Fig. 5. Maximum M x =M; M y =M around square hole (r 0:1) for various ply groups
of carbon/epoxy.

cross ply laminate of carbon/epoxy. Here, the values of these

exural moduli converge to the value of modulus of quasihomogeneous symmetric laminate.
The present analytical investigation is validated by considering
simple case of isotopic plate (E 200 GN/m2, G12 80 GN/m2,
12 0:25) and graphite/epoxy (E1 181 GN/m2, E2 10.30 GN/
m2, G12 7.17 GN/m2, 12 0:28, 21 0:016) symmetric laminated plate ((45/  45)4S) containing square hole. The input data
of loading, material, and radius are used to be similar to the work
done by Savin [6] (for isotropic case,  1; 450 ) and

N.P Patel, D.S Sharma / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

135

Fig. 8. M =M around square hole for angle ply of kevlar/epoxy laminated plate
subjected to twisting.
Fig. 6. M =M around square hole for angle ply laminated plate of kevlar/epoxy
subjected to all round moment.

Fig. 7. M =M around square hole for cross ply carbon/epoxy laminated plate
subjected to bending about-X axis.

Ukadgaonker and Rao (Fig. 5, [27]) (for symmetric laminated case,

1; 00 ) for the sake of comparison of the present analytic
investigation. The results obtained from the present work are in
marked agreement (Figs. 3 and 4).

In present work, the maximum normalized moments M x =M;
M y =M are calculated for each value of ply group for cross ply
symmetric laminated plate weakened by square hole
r 0:1considering all round moment (Fig. 5). The trend is similar
to the exural moduli variation (Fig. 2). Here, the variation
converge to one value as the number of ply group increases. This
may be due to the values of corresponding exural moduli
converge to the value of modulus of quasi-homogeneous symmetric laminate.
A 16 layered symmetric laminated plates of carbon/epoxy,
kevlar/epoxy and glass/epoxy with three different ply groups (4,
8 and 16 of cross ply and angle ply) are considered. The moment
distribution M =M for some of the cases of cross ply and angle ply
are as shown in Figs. 68. The maximum values of M =M and
respective loadings are addressed (Figs. 68). Along with these,
maximum values of M =M for all other cases are tabulated in
Table 2. It is evident from the results, the value of M =M decreases
signicantly as the number of ply group increased. This may be
because, for less number of ply groups, the laminate has larger

values of Fxx. It is observed from Table 2, the values of normalized

tangential moment greatly affected by the bluntness at the corner
of a square hole. The maximum M =M increases with the decrease
in corner radii. Here, it can also be observed that the value of
M =M changes signicantly as stacking sequence varies. This
proves that the stacking conguration is the one of the governing
parameter on which the behavior of laminate depends.
As we know that the performance of laminates can be checked
by deciding the value of strength for specic loading. Here, in the
present work, the procedure to calculate failure strength of a
laminate is also demonstrated by taking few cases. Foremost, the
values of stresses (around hole) ( x ; y ; xy ) (Eq. 16) are calculated
for each layer from which the layer-wise strengths are calculated
(Eq. (17)). The layer-wise maximum stresses ( x ; y ) for (04/904)S
and (454/  454)S of glass/epoxy symmetric laminated plate subjected to all round moment and bending about-X axis are
addressed in Fig. 9. Similarly, the values of strengths are plotted
for each layer of kevlar/epoxy (cross ply and angle ply with m 4,
8 and 16) subjected to all round moment is also plotted (Fig. 10).
Here, it is observed that the values of stresses and strengths are
higher at top and middle layer respectively.
The values of strengths are calculated for all cases of cross ply
and angle ply (m 4, 8 and 16) symmetric laminates (carbon/
epoxy, kevlar/epoxy and glass/epoxy) considering various loadings
( 1; 00 ; 0; 900 ; 0; 00 and  1; 450 ) for
various bluntness of square hole (Table 3). As observed from
Table 3, the values of strengths are signicantly affected by corner
radii of the hole. The strength increases as the corner radii
increases.
The cross ply laminate is performing well in case of plate
subjected to bending about-X axis compare to other loadings as its
strength is higher for all materials. On the contrary, the values of
normalized tangential moment are lower for cross ply laminates
subjected to bending about-X axis. However, similar trend is not
observed for angle ply laminates. Here, the values of normalized
tangential moment are higher in case of kevlar/epoxy plate
compare to other materials for all loadings. Glass/epoxy symmetric
laminated plate is performing well in all loadings with angle ply
conguration compare to cross ply (Table 3). Among all materials,
strength of carbon/epoxy is higher irrespective of loadings and ply
congurations. So, the values of strength and moments are
affected by the values of ber congurations. The behavior of
laminates can be tailored by changing the ber conguration to
satisfy the intent requirement (Tables 2 and 3).

136

N.P Patel, D.S Sharma / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

Table 2
Maximum M =M in laminates containing square hole for various loading conditions.
Carbon/epoxy
Kevlar/epoxy
(a) Cylindrical bending, (b) bending about-X axis, (c) bending about-Y axis, (d) twisting
(a)
r 0.1


04 =904 S


02 =902 2S


0=90 4S


454 =  454 S


452 =  452 2S


45=  45 4S
r 0.0417


04 =904 S


02 =902 2S


0=90 4S


454 =  454 S


452 =  452 2S


45=  45 4S
r 0.0240


04 =904 S


02 =902 2S


0=90 4S


454 =  454 S


452 =  452 2S


45=  45 4S

(b)

(c)

(d)

(a)

(b)

Glass/epoxy

(c)

(d)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

2.872

8.828

2.720

6.127

12.755

9.862

2.713

7.206

27.301

6.305

2.549

3.756

6.188

2.35

3.844

11.201

6.626

2.327

4.325

24.374

5.020

2.288

2.740

4.094

5.392

2.223

3.719

11.556

5.708

2.197

4.216

21.896

4.539

2.181

2.637

4.677

12.987

8.284

15.638

3.864

16.130

18.156

28.303

6.108

6.934

3.100

5.023

3.357

7.209

5.043

6.977

4.756

8.032

8.251

10.820

5.214

5.343

2.785

3.429

3.921

5.946

3.788

4.531

5.222

6.442

5.166

6.160

5.725

4.856

2.598

2.851

4.203

10.587

3.248

7.342

15.437

11.769

3.270

8.593

33.718

7.500

3.036

4.463

3.451

7.447

2.801

4.646

13.611

7.953

2.768

5.206

30.043

6.003

2.700

3.303

4.930

6.490

2.641

4.505

14.184

6.853

2.598

5.178

27.066

5.437

2.559

3.033

5.623

17.090

11.385

21.350

5.150

21.382

24.733

38.441

7.772

9.223

4.241

6.927

4.523

9.496

6.991

9.593

6.408

10.555

11.232

14.485

7.022

6.969

3.813

4.726

5.335

7.758

5.260

6.275

7.071

8.429

7.142

8.377

7.737

6.312

3.546

3.904

5.739

3.905

12.146

3.752

8.394

17.921

13.487

3.738

9.815

39.321

8.584

3.483

5.102

8.558

3.228

5.330

15.883

9.136

3.169

5.966

35.251

6.873

3.082

3.791

5.606

7.458

3.036

5.192

16.417

7.873

2.982

6.006

31.802

6.224

2.914

3.407

6.411

20.754

14.019

25.999

6.175

25.972

30.082

46.526

8.929

10.765

5.117

8.526

5.459

11.208

8.521

11.593

7.737

12.563

13.523

17.323

8.443

8.305

4.531

5.797

6.474

9.236

6.420

7.611

8.578

10.011

8.635

10.077

9.346

7.460

4.224

4.764

6.979

Fig. 9. Layer wise maximum stress x =; y = for glass/epoxy plate containing square hole (r 0.0240). (a) (04/904)S, 1, 01 (b) (04/904)S, 0, 901 (c) (454/-454)S,
1, 01 and (d) (454/-454)S, 0, 901

The variations of maximum normalized stresses ( x = ; y = )

and strengths for different number of ply groups are also studied
(Fig. 11). The carbon/epoxy plate of cross ply laminate weakened

by square hole (r 0.1) is considered. It is observed that the values

are nearly converges to one value. This trend is similar to
convergence of exural moduli (Fig. 2) and bending moment

N.P Patel, D.S Sharma / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

137

Fig. 10. Layer wise strength for kevlar/epoxy laminated plate weakened by square hole (r 0.0240) considering all round moment.

Table 3
Failure strength values of laminates containing square hole for various loading conditions.
Failure strength values (MPa)
Carbon/epoxy
Kevlar/epoxy
(a) All round moment, (b) bending about-X axis, (c) bending about-Y axis, (d) twisting

r 0.1


04 =904 S


02 =902 2S


0=90 4S


454 =  454 S


452 =  452 2S


45=  45 4S
r 0.0417


04 =904 S


02 =902 2S


0=90 4S


454 =  454 S


452 =  452 2S


45=  45 4S
r 0.0240


04 =904 S


02 =902 2S


0=90 4S


454 =  454 S


452 =  452 2S


45=  45 4S

(c)

(d)

(a)

(b)

(c)

Glass/epoxy

(a)

(b)

(d)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

10.064

60.404

10.212

4.871

5.823

45.733

5.739

1.790

2.965

13.715

3.359

2.650

19.065

74.355

19.154

6.499

11.807

64.103

11.522

2.448

4.425

17.502

5.091

3.280

23.570

75.665

23.676

7.199

14.830

60.575

14.553

2.739

5.144

15.931

6.0

3.584

19.489

20.788

10.492

19.896

10.908

7.343

4.597

10.527

7.689

15.893

9.815

8.282

35.982

34.742

23.901

33.028

21.277

21.599

16.821

21.011

10.656

20.113

21.316

10.784

44.581

45.687

36.482

36.416

26.342

30.826

26.454

24.092

12.006

21.604

23.351

11.828

1.937

7.455

42.954

7.496

3.556

4.326

32.875

4.210

1.309

2.218

9.798

2.499

14.206

53.476

14.077

4.717

8.822

45.319

8.456

1.784

3.283

12.527

3.746

2.382

17.773

54.453

17.595

5.266

11.173

45.672

10.764

2.008

3.842

11.852

4.430

2.617

14.951

15.774

7.740

15.029

7.955

5.438

3.418

8.039

6.033

12.168

7.094

6.371

27.618

27.536

18.399

24.787

16.403

17.004

13.012

15.827

8.276

15.361

15.456

8.185

34.248

37.362

29.109

27.036

20.271

24.331

20.673

17.947

9.294

16.520

18.008

8.910

1.593

6.168

34.875

6.181

2.925

3.580

26.815

3.470

1.077

1.838

7.976

2.062

11.835

44.710

11.700

3.941

7.321

36.693

7.052

1.501

2.733

10.484

3.121

1.987

14.622

44.665

14.314

4.313

9.247

37.795

8.769

1.655

3.157

9.965

3.639

2.157

12.311

13.184

6.397

12.500

6.572

4.523

2.835

6.662

5.137

10.344

5.809

5.343

23.296

23.536

15.517

20.592

13.944

14.531

10.959

13.124

6.988

12.913

12.638

6.802

28.921

32.549

24.986

22.518

17.073

21.046

17.867

14.811

7.912

13.822

15.171

7.410



M x =M; M y =M (Fig. 5). Herein, the values of stresses are decreasing
as the number of ply group increases while strength is increasing.
So, the values of moments, failure strengths and stresses are
strongly affected by number of ply groups. The effects of exural
moduli can be observed from Figs. 2, 5 and 11, and Tables 2 and 3.
The values of maximum normalized moments are reduced as the
values of Fxx is reduced (Fyy is increased), while the reverse trend is
observed for the values of strengths.

In isotropic and anisotropic materials, when the plate is

subjected to in-plane loading, the loading angle has a substantial
consequence on the stress distribution. To understand the effect of
loading angle, the glass/epoxy symmetric laminated plate (angle
ply and cross ply) containing square hole (r 0.1) is considered.
The maximum value of normalized tangential stresses and failure
strength is calculated for each loading angle (Figs. 12 and 13). The
maximum values of normalized tangential stresses are observed to

138

N.P Patel, D.S Sharma / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 94-95 (2015) 131139

be 8.9593, 10.8192, 12.8962, 8.4864, 7.0169 and 6.4848 (Fig. 12)

and values of maximum strengths are 13.7147, 17.5024, 14.1701,
15.8933, 21.3157 and 23.3513 (Fig. 13) for cross ply (m 4, 8 and
16) and angle ply (m 4, 8 and 16) symmetric laminate respectively. It is manifest from the results, the loading angle has a
substantial consequence on the values of stresses and strengths in
case of composite plates.

5. Conclusions

Fig. 11. The maximum value of normalized stresses ( x =; y =) and strength for
different number of ply groups.

The general solution presented here is extremely useful to

obtain the moment distribution around square hole with a known
mapping function in symmetric laminates subjected to equibiaxial bending, cylindrical bending and twisting. The results from
the present solution are in good agreement with the available
literatures. The procedure to calculate the failure strength of
symmetric laminate containing cut-outs considering bending
loading is demonstrated in the present work. It is evident that
the properties like strength can be controlled by varying the ber
orientation to meet particular design requirements. The parameters such as, materials, exural moduli, stacking sequence,
loading conditions, and corner radius signicantly affect the values
of strength and moment. The value of maximum tangential
moment is reduced as the number of ply group and corner radii
increase.
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Fig. 12. Maximum = for laminates containing square hole considering various
loading angles.

Fig. 13. Maximum f = for laminates containing square hole considering various
loading angles.

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