Stress-Function Variational Methods for Stress Analysis of Composite Laminates and Adhesively Bonded Composite Joints
Abstract
Adhesively bonded composite joints (ABCJs) have been broadly used to connect multimaterials
and show their structural and economic advantages compared to traditional bonding
methods. However, robust methods are still desired for efficient and accurate lay-wise stress
analysis of ABCJs involving multiple boundaries and layers.
The purpose of this work was to extend the stress-function variational method for free-edge
stress analysis of composite laminates with a finite length. At each interface of the laminate, two
unknown Lehknitskii’s stress potential functions were introduced to interpolate the stresses
across the layer. A set of 4th-order governing ODEs of the functions was obtained via evoking the
complementary virtual work, solved by eigenvalue-function method under proper traction
conditions. Corresponding MATLAB™ program was developed and validated by the FEM
(ANSYS®). This method can also examine the stress-suppression effect after composite
laminates interleafing. Consequently, the above method was furthered for determining the laywise
stress distribution in ABCJs.