Finite Element Analysis of Stress
Concentrations in Isotropic and Composite
Plates with Elliptical Holes
Alblelhak Khechs", Abdelouahab Tat,
“Mobamed Ouejdi Belarbi, and Abdelhamid Guetta
"Laboratory of Civil Hagieerng, Uiversty of isha, BP 145, 07000 Biskra, Algeria
* Lahortoy of Energy Engineering ad Matnle, University of Bik, BP 145, 07000
iste, Algeria
abdelzacieyahoo. fe, bolarbi,m.wagmail.com
Abstract. Panels and shells with variously shaped cutout are often used in bot
modem and classical aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering structures. The
‘understanding of the effects of cutout on the load bearing capacity and stress con-
‘centration of such plates/shells is very important in designing of structures. Finite
clement investigation is undertaken to study the stress analysis of plates with cen-
teal elliptical holes. In this study, the stress concentration factors (SCF) in erass-
and-angle-ply composite plates as well asin isotropic plates subjected to uniaxial
loading is studied, The main objective ofthis study isto demonstrate the accuracy
of present element for stress analysis of plates with central cutout, The varying
‘parameters, such at cutout shape (ciculat ot elliptical), hole sizes (a/b) ot eurout
orientations, which affect the stress distributions and SCF in the perforated plates,
are considered. The sumerical results oblained by the present element are com-
pared favorably with the analytic findings published in lteratwe, which demon-
strates the accuracy of the present element
Keywords: finite element analysis, laminated composite plates, stress concentra.
tion, geometric singularity
1 Introduction
Superior mechanical properties of composite materials such as high stiffness and
strength to weight ratios caused it to be used increasingly in many areas of tech-
nology including marine, aerospace, automotive and others. In recent years, re-
searchers have put enortous efforts in order to analyze the sttess distibution
sround circular and elliptical holes. Numerous investigators have attempted to
calculate the SCF for different kinds of geometsic discontinuity under different
types of loads by using various methods (Wang and Qin 2012),
1, Chouhane eal eds), Design and Modeling of Mechanical Sytem
‘Leste Notes ia Mechanical Hoginecing, DOL 101000976-3-319-7S2740 48a8 A. Khechai et
Circular, elliptical, and rectangular cutouts are two-dimensional holes usualy.
For circular hole problems in finite field, there are some research results using
approximate analytical methods (Louhghalam, A., etal 2011). However, research
schievements about elliptical hole are relatively few in comparison with circular
holes
‘One of the most powerful methods for the analytical calculation of stress distri-
bution end in particular SCFs around holes in an infinite elastic plate isthe Musk-
helishvili conformal mapping complex variable method, The method is presented
in detail in Muskhelishvli’s monograph (Muskhelishvili 1977) as well as in clas-
sical books on the theory of elasticity. Moreover, (Sharma 2012) obtained the
{general stress functions for determining the SCF around circular, elliptical and
telangular cutouts in laminated composite infinite plate subjected to arbitrary bi-
axial loading at infinity by use ofthe Muskhelisvili’s complex variable method
‘While the complex variable method is very powerful in solving a wide variety
of elasticity problems, it is complicated and must be reformulated for each type of
far-field load, The other main class of methods for evaluating SCF in plates is
based on the finite element method. Many researchers have recently attempted to
study the strese distribution around various shapes holes by using special finite
clements (Nishioka and Aduri 1982), (Piltner 1985), (Chen 1993), (Pan and Yang
2001), and (Wang and Qin 2012). (Khechai et al 2014) pointed out the effect of
fiber orientation onthe stess concentration around circular holes of single layered
anisotropic plates and their failures by comparing the layer without a hole
‘The main purpose of this paper isto calculate the SC¥s around circular and el-
liptical holes in thin isotropic, cross-and-angle-play laminated composite plates,
subjected to uni-axial loading by using a quadrilateral finite element, previously
developed by (Tati and Abibsi 2007) for the bending and mechanical buckling of
laminated composite plates. To evaluate the performance ofthe proposed element
some numerical examples are considered in this study. The numerical obtained
results aze compared favorably with analytical results which demonstrate the
accuracy ofthe present element
2. Finite Element Formulations
‘The displacement field (Klhechai et al 2014) according to the classical laminated
plate theory, based on the Kirchhoff assumptions, is given by the followings
Vows
®
Vea ytd = vole)
W(x. y.2) = wy 9)Finite Element Analysis of Sess Concentrations ‘29
where Mp Y and Wj are the mid-plane displacement components of the plate
‘The strain-displacement relations including the large deformations, ean be deter-
mined as
aw
ax
1a)
felted b+ 2k}
By adopting the classical laminate theory, the forces NV and moments resul-
tants Mare related tothe mid-surfae strains €° and tothe curvatures by
{v|_[tal (ei]fe?
(cH we °
where [A], [B] and[D] isthe extensional, coupling and bending rigidity ma-
tei, respectively, which can be defined by
®
wit 2, ae the cote of easy fa yer inthe global oodinte
system (sy, 2) of the laminate forming an angle @ with the local coordinate
system (1.2.3), The proposed element is a combination of an isoperimetric mem
brane quadrilateral clement and a fist order Hermitian rectangular plate element
of high degree of ‘The element has 4 nodes of 8 degrees of freedom
‘each. The displacements state leads to 32 degrees of freedom by element with §
cqrees of feedom by node and teresting displacement vector {4} is
o
fa) fu ve
Oe Dy Axdy Oe
‘The strain energy U of the element is
poh E egy [Use Las. 1.1 U2
NO er wis. les.t lsu
Joobesen o