Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Postbuckling strengths of composite laminate with various shaped cutouts under in-plane shear
Dinesh Kumar a, S.B. Singh b,*
a b

Mechanical Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani 333 031, India Civil Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani 333 031, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
The aim of present investigation is to study the buckling and postbuckling response and strengths under positive and negative in-plane shear loads of simply-supported composite laminate with various shaped cutouts (i.e., circular, square, diamond, elliptical-vertical and elliptical-horizontal) of various sizes using nite-element method. The FEM formulation is based on the rst order shear deformation theory which incorporates geometric nonlinearity using von Karmans assumptions. The 3-D Tsai-Hill criterion is used to predict the failure of a lamina while the onset of delamination is predicted by the interlaminar failure criterion. The effect of cutout shape, size and direction of shear load on buckling and postbuckling responses, failure loads and failure characteristics of quasi-isotropic [i.e., (+45/45/0/90)2s] laminate has been discussed. In addition, the effect of composite lay-up [i.e., (+45/45/0/90)2s, (45/45)4s and (0/90)4s] has also been reported. It is observed that the cutout shape has considerable effect on the buckling and postbucking behaviour of the quasi-isotropic laminate with large size cutout. It is also observed that the direction of shear load and composite lay-up have substantial inuence on strength and failure characteristics of the laminate. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Available online 13 May 2010 Keywords: Buckling Cutouts Composite laminate Postbuckling Shear

1. Introduction Composite materials in the form of thin laminated panels are increasingly used in almost all modern advanced engineering applications such as spacecraft, high speed aircraft, naval vessels and automobiles. In addition to high specic stiffness and strength values, composites can be tailored for weight saving and enviable mechanical behaviour against various applied loads in structural design. It is also well known that the composite materials have signicant reserve postbuckling strength beyond buckling. However, cutouts are often provided in these panels for various reasons, such as for access to electrical lines, hydraulic and fuel lines, passages for wire bundles and damage inspection. The presence of these cutouts forms free edges in the composite laminates, which in turn cause high interlaminar stresses [1] leading to loss of stiffness and premature failure of laminates due to onset of delamination. Cutout shape and size have significant role in predicting the responses of laminated panels [27] and affect the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of structural laminates under various loading conditions such as in-plane com-

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9414648283; fax: +91 1596 244183. E-mail addresses: dineshkr@bits-pilani.ac.in (D. Kumar), sbsingh@bits-pilani. ac.in (S.B. Singh). 0263-8223/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2010.05.008

pression, shear, and combined in-plane shear and compression. Further, the shear directions also affect the postbuckling behaviour of the composite plates [8,9]. Thus, it is imperative to have in-depth understanding of buckling, postbuckling, failure characteristics and strength of thin composite panels with cutouts under in-plane shear (positive and negative) for their efcient and economical design. Early investigations related to shear buckling and postbuckling responses of laminated plates without cutouts are the works of Kaminski and Ashton [10], Prabhakar and Kennedy [11], Aggarwal [12], Zhang and Matthews [8] and Kosteletos [13]. Singh et al. [14,15] investigated the progressive failure of square symmetric laminates under in-plane shear (positive and negative, respectively) loads. Jha and Kumar [16] studied the response and failure of square laminates under transverse load combined with axial compression and in-plane shear and developed failure envelopes in the form of load interaction curves using Tsai-Hill failure criteria. Iyengar and Chakraborty [17] studied the interaction curves for composite laminates under uni-axial compression and shear loadings using simple higher order shear deformation theory. In 1996, Nemeth [18] published a comprehensive review of the research activities in the area of buckling and postbuckling behaviour of laminated composite plates with a cutout. It has been reported [18] that only limited research [2,1921] are available on the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of laminated composite

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

2967

Nomenclature nodal displacement vector for ith node incremental displacements at the end of the jth iteration b in-plane dimensions of the square plate in x- and y-direction B0, Bb and Bs straindisplacement matrices corresponding to inplane axial, bending and shear strains, respectively c dimensions of square and diamond cutouts d diameter of circular cutout e and f major and minor axes of the elliptical cutout Fi and Fij strength tensors F external applied loads (includes in-plane loads as well as transverse forces) E1, E2 and E3 principal Youngs moduli in ber direction and other two transverse directions, respectively G12, G13 and G23 shear moduli associated with planes 12, 13 and 23, respectively h thickness of the square plate I5 5 5 unit matrix k1 and k2 shear correction factors tangent stiffness matrix KT M moment resultants per unit length n number of nodes in an element N stress resultants per unit length Ni (i = 1, n) shape functions of a nine noded Lagrangian element Nxy applied shear load per unit width in x-direction Q transverse shear stress resultants per unit length R, S and T shear strengths of lamina in-planes 23, 13 and 12, respectively {aj} D{aj} displacements in x-, y- and z-directions, respectively U displacement components at a point within an element wmax transverse deection (maximum transverse deection) X (Xt or Xc) normal strength (tensile or compressive, respectively) of lamina in ber direction-1 Y (Yt or Yc) normal strength (tensile or compressive, respectively) of lamina in direction transverse to the ber direction-1 Z (Zt or Zc) normal strength (tensile or compressive, respectively) of lamina in principal material direction3, i.e., perpendicular to plane of lamina m12, m13 and m23 Poissons ratios associated with planes 12, 13 and 23, respectively r1 ; r2 ; r3 normal stress components in principal material directions 1, 2 and 3, respectively (the subscript 1 referring to the ber direction) rDN peel strength equal to the tensile normal transverse strength of lamina rDS interlaminar shear strength equal to transverse shear strength corresponding to the plane 13 of lamina h ber orientation with respect to x-direction hx and hy rotation of normal to the undeformed mid-plane in xz- and yz-plane, respectively w residual force s12 ; s13 and s23 shear stress components in principal material planes 12, 13 and 23, respectively u,

and w

panels under shear loads. Moreover, these are primarily for laminates with central circular cutout. Romeo [22] conducted an experimental and analytical study on laminated panels with rectangular opening under bi-axial tension, compression and shear loads. Anil et al. [23] carried out the stability analysis of composite laminates with and without rectangular cutout under bi-axial loading and studied load interaction curves. Guo [5] conducted numerical and experimental studies to investigate the effect of reinforcements around cutouts on the stress concentration and buckling behaviour of a carbon/epoxy composite panel under in-plane shear load. Very lately, Guo et al. [24] examined the effect of cutout and various edge reinforcements in a composite C-section beam under static shear load and demonstrated that the cutout induced stress concentration can be reduced signicantly by appropriate cutout shape and edge reinforcements. It is manifested that there are very few investigations related to buckling and/or postbuckling analysis of composite laminates with non-circular cutouts under in-plane shear loading conditions. Furthermore, most of the investigations on shear buckling and postbuckling laminates with cutouts are primarily concerned with the study of load versus out-of-plane displacement relationship of plates at loads beyond buckling without commenting on their actual reserve strength in the postbuckling stage. The present study investigates the buckling and postbuckling responses, failure loads and failure characteristics of a simply-supported quasi-isotropic [i.e., (+45/45/0/90)2s] laminate with circular as well as non-circular (i.e., square, diamond, elliptical) cutouts of various sizes under in-plane positive and negative shear loads. In addition, the effect of composite lay-up on buckling and postbuckling characteristics of the laminate with circular cutout is also studied by taking three laminate congurations, namely, quasi-isotropic [i.e.,

(+45/45/0/90)2s], angle-ply. [i.e., (45/45)4s], and cross-ply [i.e., (0/90)4s]. 2. Present study 2.1. Finite-element formulation The present study is carried out by developing a special-purpose program based on nite-element method (FEM). The niteelement formulation is based on the rst order shear deformation theory with a nine noded Lagrangian element having ve degrees of freedom per node (i.e., u, v, w, hx, and hy). The shear correction factor value used in the present study is the same as used in Singh and Kumar [9] (i.e., k1 = k2 = 5/6). The nonlinear analysis is carried out using von Karmans assumptions. The nonlinear algebraic nite-element equations are solved by NewtonRaphson technique. Since the details of FEM formulation are well documented in the literature [25], but for ready reference, a brief description of nite-element model associated with the equations governing laminated composite plates is given in Appendix A. 2.2. Failure model and denition of failure Failure of a lamina is predicted by tensor polynomial form of the 3-D Tsai-Hill criterion as in Singh and Kumar [9] [see Appendix B(i)], wherein ve stress components in material directions (three in-plane stresses and two transverse shear stresses) were calculated at mid thickness of each layer of individual element using the constitutive equations and by applying proper transformation. In addition, an attempt has been made in the present study to predict the onset of delamination at interface of two adjacent layers

2968

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

using interlaminar failure criterion [26] [see Appendix B(ii)]. Three transverse stresses at each gauss point on the corresponding interface are calculated in material directions using integration of equilibrium equations and by applying proper transformation. The in-plane stress variations used in each equilibrium equation are derived from nodal values of in-plane stresses. To predict the ultimate failure of laminate, a progressive failure procedure as used by Singh and Kumar [9] has been implemented. In this progressive failure procedure, at each load step, gauss point stresses are used in tensor polynomial form of the Tsai-Hill failure criterion. If failure occurs at a gauss point in a layer of an element, a reduction in the appropriate lamina stiffness is introduced in accordance with the mode of failure. The laminate stiffness is recomputed and failure is checked again at the same load step. If no failure occurs, the process is repeated at next load step. Ultimate failure is said to have occurred when the onset of delamination occurs at interface of any two layers of any element or when the plate is no longer able to carry any further increase in load due to large transverse deection (i.e., wmax/h > 8.0). 2.3. Material properties and geometric model Properties of the material (T300/5208 graphite epoxy with volume fraction 60%) [27] of each lamina are presented in Table 1. For this present study, a full square laminate of size 279 mm 279 mm 2.16 mm with ply thickness 0.135 mm is considered. A quasi-isotropic laminate, having stacking sequence (+45/45/0/90)2s (i.e., total 16 layers, bottom layer being the rst layer), with and without central cutouts of various shapes (i.e., square, circular, diamond, elliptical-vertical and elliptical-horizontal) and sizes have been investigated. Three cutout sizes of areas designated as A1, A2 and A3 have been considered to observe the effect of cutout shape on buckling and postbuckling behaviour of quasi-isotropic laminate under in-plane positive and negative shear loads. The area A1 is equal to the area of the square cutout having aspect ratio (i.e., c/b, where c is the size of square cutout while b is width of square laminate) equal to 0.14, while the areas A2 and A3 are equal to the area of square cutouts of aspect ratios 0.28 & 0.42, respectively. Details of the cutout shapes and dimensions are given in Table 2. In addition, the effect of composite lay-up [i.e., (+45/45/0/ 90)2s, (45/45)4s and (0/90)4s] on buckling and postbuckling re-

Direction of (+ve) shear Direction of (-ve) shear u 0, v 0, w = 0, x= 0, y 0

y
u=0 v0 w=0 b x 0 y= 0

(+ve) (-ve)
u0 v0 w=0 x 0 y= 0

b
u 0, v = 0, w = 0, x= 0, y 0

Fig. 1. Details of boundary conditions and the shear load notations.

sponses of the laminate with and without a typical circular cutout of size A3 is also investigated. 2.4. Boundary and loading conditions The exural and in-plane edge boundary conditions at x = 0, x = b, y = 0 and y = b considered in the analysis for the simply-supported laminate are shown in Fig. 1. The in-plane boundary conditions specied here are chosen after detailed validation of the present nite-element results with the analytical, numerical and/or experimental results of Kosteletos [13], Jha and Kumar [16] and Guo [5] for in-plane positive and negative shear loads. In-plane uniformly distributed shear loads (positive and negative) are applied on all four edges of the laminate by taking equivalent nodal forces at boundary edge of each boundary element. The notation for positive and negative shear loads is also depicted in Fig. 1. Results for failure loads and the corresponding deections are presented in the following non-dimensionalized forms: In-plane shear load N xy b =E2 h . Maximum transverse deection wmax/h. Here, E2 is the transverse elastic modulus of a lamina; h is the thickness of the laminate; b is the width of the square plate; Nxy is the in-plane shear loads per unit width of the plate; and wmax is the maximum transverse deection. 2.5. Convergence study
2 3

Table 1 Material properties of T300/5208 (pre-peg) graphiteepoxy. Mechanical properties E1 E2 = E3 G12 = G13 G23 m12 = m13 Values 132.58 GPa 10.80 GPa 5.70 GPa 3.4 GPa 0.24 0.49 Strength properties Xt Xc Yt = Zt Yc = Zc R S=T Values 1.52 GPa 1.70 GPa 43.80 MPa 43.80 MPa 67.60 MPa 86.90 MPa

m23

Table 2 Details of cutout shapes and their dimensions. Cutout shape Cutout size Ratio* Square Circular Diamond Elliptical-vertical Elliptical-horizontal c/b d/b c/b e/b f/b e/b f/b A1 0.140 0.158 0.140 0.112 0.224 0.224 0.112 A2 0.280 0.316 0.280 0.223 0.447 0.447 0.223 A3 0.420 0.474 0.420 0.335 0.670 0.670 0.335

Refer Figs. 3 and 4 for various notations.

Before xing the number of elements in the nite-element analysis of composite laminate with cutouts, a convergence study was conducted for square cutouts of areas A1 and A3 (i.e., for smaller and larger cutout sizes) using 72, 96, 120, 144 and 168 elements. The convergence of buckling and rst-ply failure loads of simplysupported quasi-isotropic laminate under positive shear load was checked. Results of convergence study are shown in Table 3. From Table 3 it can be concluded that a mesh of 144 elements gives sufcient accurate results in terms of non-dimensionalized buckling and rst-ply failure loads for both sized cutouts (i.e., A1 and A3). For the sake of uniformity, nite element mesh of 144 elements has been considered for all shaped cutouts. In the case of laminate

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978 Table 3 Convergence study. Nos. of elements Nos. of nodes Non-dimensionalized buckling load (i.e., N xy b =E2 h ) A1 72 96 120 144 168 336 432 528 624 720 38.6204 37.9768 37.8695 37.8695 37.8695 A3 19.5248 19.4175 19.4175 19.4175 19.4175
2 3

2969

Non-dimensionalized rst-ply failure load (i.e., N xy b =E2 h ) A1 57.0724 55.3560 54.4977 53.8541 53.4249 A3 32.7201 37.5476 37.6549 37.7622 37.7622

111

112 113

114 115

116

117

118 119

120 121

100
21

101 102
22

103 104
23

105

106
24

107 108
25

109 110

89 78
16

90 79

91 80
17

92 81

93 82
18

94 83

95 84
19

96 85

97 86
20

98 87

99 88

67 56
11

68 57

69 58
12

70

71

72 61
13

73 62
14

74 63 52 41
9

75 64
15

76 65 54 43
10

77 66 55 44 33 22 Element Number Node Number

59 60 48 37
7

45 34
6

46 35 24 13
1

47 36 25 14
2

49 38
8

50 39

51 40 29 18
4

53 42 31 20
5

23 12

26 15

27 16
3

28 17

30 19

32 21

10

11

Fig. 2. Meshing of a square laminate without cutout showing element- and node-numbering scheme.

without cutout, the convergence of results has been obtained for nite element mesh of 5 5 and corroborate with the results obtained by Singh [25]. Schematic of nite element meshes along with element- and node-numbering scheme for a typical square laminate without cutout and with circular cutout are illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. Schematics of nite element mesh for square laminate with cutouts of other shapes are shown in Fig. 4. 3. Verication of results Having validated the developed program under uni-axial compression [7], the accuracy of the developed program under in-plane shear is also checked by comparing results (buckling loads, postbuckling response and rst-ply failure loads) with the numerical and/or experimental results published by Jha and Kumar [16], Guo [5] and Kosteletos [13]. Table 4 provides the details of laminates shape, size and stacking sequence, boundary and loading conditions used for comparison purpose along with the validated results. The material properties used were the same as given in the respective references. From Table 4, it can be observed that the developed program gives the results which are in very good agreement with the results presented by Jha and Kumar [16], Guo [5] and Kosteletos [13]. Further, a good comparison of load

deection response of (45/45)2s laminate without cutout obtained in the present study with that of Kosteletos [13] can also be observed in Fig. 5. 4. Results and discussions 4.1. Effect of cutout shape and size Loaddeection response of quasi-isotropic [(45/45/0/90)2s] laminate with and without cutouts of various shapes of size A1 under positive and negative shear loads is shown in Fig. 6. Buckling, rst-ply failure and ultimate failure loads are also portrayed in the gure. Overall details of failure characteristics (i.e., buckling load, rst-ply failure and ultimate failure loads, maximum transverse deection at rst-ply failure, rst failed element number and layer number, and modes of rst-ply failure and ultimate failure) for the same laminate are presented in Table 5. From Fig. 6 and Table 5, the rst expected observation is that buckling and failure loads (i.e., rst-ply and ultimate failure) of the laminate with cutout are less than those without cutout for both directions of shear load, irrespective of the cutout shape. In the presence of cutout, with respect to the laminate without cutout, the buckling and rst-ply failure loads reduce within 13.5% and 12.2%, respectively, for positive shear load. The corresponding reduction in buckling

2970

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

y
Gauss points

Node No. Element No.

Fiber Orientation

x
Fig. 3. Finite element mesh showing element- and node-numbering scheme for a typical square laminate with circular cutout.

and rst-ply failure loads for negative shear are within 12.8% and 31.3%, respectively. Maximum reduction in buckling load is observed to be for the laminate with square, elliptical-vertical or elliptical-horizontal cutout, whereas the minimum reduction in buckling load is observed for the laminate with circular or diamond cutout, for both directions of shear load. Further, the highest and lowest falls in rst-ply failure load are observed to be for the laminates with square and circular/diamond cutouts, respectively, for both directions of shear load. The mode of rst-ply failure, in the case of laminate with cutout of all shapes, is transverse mode of failure (i.e., matrix failure due to stress transverse to ber direction), which is same as observed in the case of laminate without cutout, under positive shear load. However, under negative shear load, the predominant mode of rst-ply failure is onset of delamination for the laminate with square, diamond and elliptical-horizontal cutouts, whereas it is transverse mode of failure for circular and elliptical-vertical cutouts. The rst-ply failure initiates at outer boundary (near corner) of the laminate under positive shear load for the laminate with and without cutouts, except for the laminate with square cutout, wherein it takes place near cutout edge. In the case of laminate under negative shear load, cutout edge is the only critical location for rst-ply failure for all shaped cutouts, and it remains at outer corner of the laminate without cutout. The ultimate failure is assumed to have occurred when the onset of delamination takes place at interface of any two adjacent layers or when the laminate is no longer able to carry any further increase in load owing to large transverse deection because of complete loss of stiffness. From Table 5, a drastic drop-off in ultimate failure load can also be seen in the presence of cutout for both directions of shear load. Maximum and minimum reductions, with respect to the laminate without cutout, are being for the laminate with square and circular cutouts, respectively, for positive and negative shear loads. In the case of laminate with circular, diamond, elliptical-vertical and elliptical-horizontal cutout, the ultimate failure occurs because of loss of stiffness and then followed by delam-

ination, under positive shear load. Hence, the material strength is utilized efciently in these cases because the delamination occurs when the laminate loses its strength completely to carry any further load, owing to loss of stiffness. However, under negative shear, the laminate with cutout of almost all shapes (except circular cutout) fails ultimately because of early onset of delamination. In the case of laminate with circular cutout, the cause of ultimate failure is the loss of stiffness under negative shear load. Fig. 7 shows the loaddeection response of the quasi-isotropic laminate with and without cutouts of various shapes of size A2 under positive and negative shear loads. Overall details of failure characteristics of laminate for cutout size A2 are given in Table 6. It can be observed from Fig. 7 and Table 6 that as the cutout size is increased to A2, buckling and postbuckling strengths decrease further with respect to the laminate without cutout for all shaped cutouts and for both directions of shear load. Reduction in buckling and rst-ply failure loads, with respect to the laminate without cutout, are within 38.2% and 28.2%, respectively, for positive shear load, and are within 33.0% and 41.0%, respectively, for negative shear load. For cutout size A2, the laminate with diamond cutout has maximum, and the laminate with square cutout has minimum buckling and rst-ply failure loads, irrespective of the direction of shear load. Further, except for the laminate with diamond shaped cutout under negative shear load, there is no change in the mode of rst-ply failure and its location when the size of the cutout is increased from A1 to A2. In the case of laminate with diamond shaped cutout, the mode of rst-ply failure is matrix failure and it initiates at outer corner of the laminate, under negative shear load. Furthermore, except for the laminate with circular cutout under positive shear, ultimate failure load also decreases by varying amount for all shapes of cutout and for both directions of shear loads with the increase in cutout size from A1 to A2. For the case of laminate with circular cutout of size A2, the mode of ultimate failure is loss of stiffness, while for other shaped cutouts the ultimate failure is caused by early onset of delamination, irrespective of the direction of shear load.

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

2971

c c

y x

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 4. Meshing of square laminate with: (a) diamond, (b) square, (c) elliptical-horizontal, and (d) elliptical-vertical cutouts. Table 4 Verication of results. S. No. 1 Reference Jha and Kumara [16] Laminate/stacking sequence 479.88 mm 479.88 mm 3.72 mm plate without cutout/(45/0/90)2s Boundary conditions Loading conditions Result validated Non-dimensionalized rst-ply failure load i.e., N xy b =E2 h wmax/h at rst-ply failure load Non-dimensionalized rst-ply failure load i.e., N xy b =E2 h wmax/h at rst-ply failure load 2 Guo [5] 320.0 mm 320.0 mm 2.0 mm plate with central circular cutout of diameter 44 mm (i.e., d/b = 0.137)/(45)4s 279.0 mm 279.0 mm 2.16 mm plate without cutout/(45)2s Simply supported on +ve shear all edges Clamped on all edges +ve shear 3 Kosteletosc [13] Clamped on all edges +ve shear Buckling load (kN)
2 3 2 3

In present study 61.3 1.40 81.9 2.39 8.54

In reference 58.9 1.27 82.6 2.42 8.40 (8.50)b 11.4 63.3 1.98 106.7 1.25

Simply supported on +ve shear all edges ve shear

Buckling load (kN) Non-dimensionalized buckling load i.e., N xy b =E2 h

2 2 3 3

11.6 63.0 1.66 107.7 1.10

ve shear

wmax/h at N xy b =E2 h 70:0 Non-dimensionalized buckling load i.e., N x b =E2 h

2 2 3 3

wmax/h at N xy b =E2 h 110:0

a b c

First-ply failure results are based on Tsai-Hill failure criterion. The quantities inside and outside parentheses represent the critical buckling load (kN) from the FE analysis and experimental investigation, respectively. Kosteletoss results presented here are extracted from the gure given in the paper.

2972

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

160 140 120

Nxyb /E2h

100 80 60 40 20 0 Present study (+ve shear) Kosteletos [13] (+ve shear) Present study (-ve shear) Kosteletos [13] (-ve shear) 0 1 2 3 4 5

wmax/h
Fig. 5. Comparison of loaddeection response of (45/45)2s laminate without cutout with Kosteletos [13] under positive and negative shear loads.

Load versus maximum transverse deection curve for quasi-isotropic laminate with and without cutouts of various shapes of size A3 is shown in Fig. 8, for positive and negative shear loads. Table 7 contains corresponding overall failure characteristics for the same cutout size under positive and negative shear loads. It can be seen from Fig. 8 and Table 7 that buckling and rst-ply failure loads decrease further with the increase in cutout size from A2 to A3 for both directions of shear load, and this change follows similar patterns as observed for the case when cutout size was increased from A1 to A2. Furthermore, except for the laminates with circular and square cutouts, ultimate failure load also decreases further with increase in cutout size from A2 to A3, irrespective of the direction of shear loads. In the case of laminate with circular and square cutouts, no denite trend is seen regarding the ultimate failure load. For positive shear load, (Table 7) the laminate with cutout of various shapes and size A3 has almost same mode of rst-ply failure and its location, as observed in the case of laminate with A2 size cutout of various shapes. However, for negative shear load, as the cutout size changes from A2 to A3, there has been change in the mode of rst-ply failure for the laminate with square and diamond cutouts from delamination to matrix failure and vice versa, respectively. It is also observed that in the case of negative shear load for the laminate with circular cutout of size A3, the rst-ply failure occurs at corner of the laminate, while for other shaped cutouts it occurs at cutout edge. The mode of ultimate failure remains same (i.e., loss of stiffness for circular cutout and delamination for all other shaped cutouts) for cutout size A3, as observed for cutout size A2 for positive as well as negative shear load. It is important to note from Fig. 6 that the effect of cutout shape on buckling and postbuckling responses is not signicant for cutout size A1, except the effect of cutout shape on failure loads (i.e., rst-ply failure and ultimate failure loads). For instance, as shown in Table 8, the maximum difference in buckling strengths of laminate with various shaped cutouts is found to be within 1.76%, and the maximum difference in postbuckling strengths 2 3 (i.e., N xy b =E2 h ) at maximum transverse deection (i.e., wmax/h) equal to 1.5 is within 2.15%, for positive as well as negative shear load. Further, it can also be noted from Table 8 that as the cutout size increases from A1 to A3, the effect of cutout shape on buckling and postbuckling responses also increases, and it becomes signicant for cutout size A3. 4.2. Effect of direction of shear load

(a) Positive
It is also worth noting from Tables 57 that the laminate under negative shear load has more buckling and rst-ply failure loads than the laminate under positive shear load, irrespective of the cutout shape and size. The effect of direction of shear load on load deection responses of quasi-isotropic laminate with and without a typical circular cutout of various sizes is demonstrated in Fig. 9. It can be observed from Fig. 9 that although the postbuckling strengths of the laminate under negative shear load is more than that observed for positive shear load immediately after buckling, but, in the advanced stage of postbuckling deformation, strengths under positive shear load become more than the negative shear load for all cutout sizes (including without cutout). A similar response was observed for the quasi-isotropic laminate with other shaped cutouts. So, the quasi-isotropic laminate with and without a cutout is found to have more postbuckling stiffness under positive shear load, than the laminate under negative shear load. 4.3. Effect of composite lay-up

(b) Negative
Fig. 6. Loaddeection response of (45/45/0/90)2s laminate with and without cutouts of various shapes of size A1 under: (a) positive, and (b) negative shear loads.

The buckling and postbuckling response of (+45/45/0/90)2s, (45/45)4s and (0/90)4s laminates without and with circular cutout of size A3 is shown in Figs. 10 and 11, respectively, under in-plane

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978 Table 5 Details of failure characteristics of (45/45/0/90)2s laminate with and without various shaped cutouts of size A1 under positive and negative shear loads. Cutout shape Positive shear BL /FPF load/ (wmax/h)c Without cutout Circular Square Diamond Elliptical-vertical Ellipticalhorizontal
a b c d e f g a b

2973

Negative shear FE /FL /mode of FPF 1/1/transverseg 139/1/ transverse 144/1/ transverse 139/1/ transverse 139/1/ transverse 139/1/ transverse
d e

UF load/mode of UF 151.4/loss of stiffness 121.4/loss of stiffness 56.4/delamination 74.0/loss of stiffness 69.8/loss of stiffness 77.9/loss of stiffness

BLa/FPFb load/ (wmax/h)c 51.2/82.0/ 2.40 45.1/71.0/ 2.42 44.7/56.3/ 1.55 45.4/70.7/ 2.40 44.6/67.1/ 2.29 44.7/66.2/ 2.22

FEd/FLe/mode of FPF 21/2/transverseg 42/2/transverse 138/interface of layers 15 & 16/ delamination 24/interface of layers 15 & 16/delamination 54/2/transverse 24/interface of layers 15 & 16/delamination

UFf load/mode of UF 207.5/loss of stiffness 145.6/loss of stiffness 56.3/delamination 70.7/delamination 83.8/delamination 66.2/delamination

43.7/61.4/1.4 38.2/56.6/ 1.61 37.8/53.9/ 1.50 38.4/56.9/ 1.61 37.8/56.1/ 1.63 37.9/56.2/ 1.63

Buckling load. First-ply failure. Non-dimensionalized maximum transverse deection at the rst-ply failure. First failed element number. First failed layer number/interface of the rst failed element. Ultimate failure. Transverse mode of failure refers to the failure of lamina in a direction perpendicular to the ber direction due to in-plane stresses transverse to ber direction.

(a) Positive

shear loads, while the overall details of failure characteristics are presented in Table 9. It can be observed that, in the case of laminate without cutout as well as with circular cutout, the (45/ 45)4s laminate has maximum buckling strength whereas the (0/ 90)4s laminate has minimum irrespective of the direction of shear load. A similar observation can be made for the rst-ply failure load in the case of the laminate without cutout, for both directions of shear load. In contrast, in the presence of circular cutout, the (45/45)4s laminate has minimum rst-ply failure load whereas the (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate has the maximum, under positive as well as negative direction of shear load. Further, it is worth noting from Figs. 10 and 11 that under positive shear, although the buckling load of the (0/90)4s laminate is lower than that of the other two laminates, its strength is increased in the advanced stage of the postbuckling deformation. It can be observed from Table 9 that for the laminate with circular cutout as well as without cutout, the in-plane normal stresses transverse to the ber direction are the primary causes of the rst-ply failure in the (+45/45/0/90)2s and (45/45)4s laminates for both directions of shear load, and the (0/90)4s laminate under positive shear. In the case of (0/90)4s laminate under negative shear load, the in-plane shear stress is the cause of rst-ply failure. The rst-ply occurs at cutout edge in the case of (45/45)4s laminate with circular cutout for both directions of shear loads, whereas, the rst-ply failure starts at corner of the laminate in all other cases. It can also be noted from Figs. 10 and 11, and Table 9 that in almost all cases the (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate has maximum ultimate failure load, while the (0/90)4s laminate has minimum ultimate strengths. The mode of ultimate failure is the loss of stiffness for all laminates with and without circular cutout, irrespective of the directions of shear load. 5. Concluding remarks Based on the results and discussion, the following important observations can be made:

(b) Negative
Fig. 7. Loaddeection response of (45/45/0/90)2s laminate with and without cutouts of various shapes of size A2 under: (a) positive, and (b) negative shear loads.

 The (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate with cutout has less buckling, rst-ply failure and ultimate failure loads than the laminate without cutout, irrespective of the cutout shape, size, and the direction of the shear load.

2974

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

Table 6 Details of failure characteristics of (45/45/0/90)2s laminate with and without various shaped cutouts of size A2 under positive and negative shear loads. Cutout shape Positive shear BL /FPF load/ (wmax/h)c Without cutout Circular Square Diamond Elliptical-vertical Elliptical-horizontal
a b c d e f g a b

Negative shear FE /FL /mode of FPF 1/1/transverseg 139/1/transverse 144/1/transverse 139/1/transverse 139/1/transverse 139/1/transverse
d e

UF load/mode of UF 151.4/loss of stiffness 124.0/loss of stiffness 45.6/delamination 65.1/delamination 50.6/delamination 73.8/delamination

BLa/FPFb load/ (wmax/h)c 51.2/82.0/2.40 35.6/63.1/2.80 34.3/48.4/1.92 36.2/64.1/2.94 34.5/61.1/2.91 34.9/60.0/2.80

FEd/FLe/mode of FPF 21/2/transverseg 42/2/transverse 6/interface of layers 15 & 16/ delamination 37/2/transverse 54/2/transverse 12/interface of layers 13 & 14/ delamination

UFf load/mode of UF 207.5/loss of stiffness 87.1/loss of stiffness 48.4/delamination 64.9/delamination 75.2/delamination 60.0/delamination

43.7/61.4/1.41 28.8/47.8/1.90 27.0/44.1/1.83 29.6/48.4/1.92 27.9/46.8/1.94 28.1/47.0/1.93

Buckling load. First-ply failure. Non-dimensionalized maximum transverse deection at the rst-ply failure. First failed element number. First failed layer number/interface of the rst failed element. Ultimate failure. Transverse mode of failure refers to the failure of lamina in a direction perpendicular to the ber direction due to in-plane stresses transverse to ber direction.

 The (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate with square, elliptical-vertical or elliptical-horizontal cutout is found to have minimum buckling 

(a) Positive

(b) Negative
Fig. 8. Loaddeection response of (45/45/0/90)2s laminate with and without cutouts of various shapes of size A3 under: (a) positive, and (b) negative shear loads.

and rst-ply failure loads, while the laminate with circular or diamond cutout has maximum buckling and rst-ply failure loads, for all cutout sizes and for both directions of the shear load. Regardless of cutout shape and size, the mode of rst-ply failure of (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate under positive shear is matrix failure due to in-plane normal stresses transverse to the ber direction. Under negative shear, the mode of rst-ply failure of (+45/45/ 0/90)2s laminate is transverse mode in the case of laminate with and without circular and elliptical-vertical cutouts of all sizes, whereas the rst-ply failure is caused by delamination in the case of laminate with elliptical-horizontal cutout. The rst-ply failure of (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate is likely to start at corners of the laminate and at cutout edge for positive and negative directions of shear load, respectively, for all cutout sizes, except for the laminate with and without square cutout. In the case of laminate with square cutout, the rst-ply failure location lies at cutout edge whereas it occurs at the corners of the laminate without cutout, irrespective of the direction of the shear load. The (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate with circular cutout has maximum ultimate failure load, irrespective of the cutout size and the direction of shear load, whereas the minimum ultimate strength is found to be for the laminate with square and diamond cutout for smaller (i.e., A1 and A2) and larger (i.e., A3) cutout sizes, respectively, for positive as well as negative direction of shear load. The mode of ultimate failure remains the loss of stiffness in the case of quasi-isotropic laminate with and without circular cutout regardless of the cutout size and the direction of shear load; while for other shaped cutouts of larger sizes (i.e., A2 and A3), the mode of ultimate failure remains delamination for both directions of the shear load. For smaller cutout size (i.e., A1), the effect of cutout shape on buckling and postbuckling responses of (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate is not signicant, but it becomes signicant as the cutout size is increased to A3. The quasi-isotropic laminate under negative shear load has more buckling and rst-ply failure loads than the laminate under positive shear load, irrespective of the cutout shape and size, whereas the laminate is found to have more postbuckling stiffness under positive shear load than that under negative shear load. The (45/45)4s and (0/90)4s laminates with and without circular cutout of size A3 have maximum and minimum buckling strengths, respectively, for both the directions of shear load.

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978 Table 7 Details of failure characteristics of (45/45/0/90)2s laminate with and without various shaped cutouts of size A3 under positive and negative shear loads. Cutout shape Positive shear BL /FPF load/ (wmax/h)c Without cutout Circular Square Diamond Elliptical-vertical Ellipticalhorizontal
a b c d e f g a b

2975

Negative shear FE /FL /mode of FPF 1/1/transverseg 139/1/ transverse 139/16/ transverse 139/1/ transverse 139/1/ transverse 139/1/ transverse
d e

UF load/mode of UF 151.4/loss of stiffness 101.9/loss of stiffness 64.5/delamination 40.3/delamination 44.5/delamination 43.1/delamination

BLa/FPFb load/ (wmax/h)c 51.2/82.0/2.40 28.3/54.8/3.08 27.7/44.5/2.34 28.5/42.3/2.29 24.0/46.9/2.87 24.7/46.9/2.85

FEd/FLe/mode of FPF 21/2/transverseg 37/2/transverse 42/2/ transverse 126/interface of layers 15 & 16/ delamination 54/2/transverse 84/interface of layers 14 & 15/ delamination

UFf load/mode of UF 207.5/loss of stiffness 105.8/loss of stiffness 66.8/delamination 42.3/delamination 47.0/delamination 46.9/delamination

43.7/61.4/1.41 20.7/39.3/2.07 19.3/37.8/2.02 21.9/39.7/2.14 19.3/37.9/2.12 19.7/38.2/2.11

Buckling load. First-ply failure. Non-dimensionalized maximum transverse deection at the rst-ply failure. First failed element number. First failed layer number/interface of the rst failed element. Ultimate failure. Transverse mode of failure refers to the failure of lamina in a direction perpendicular to the ber direction due to in-plane stresses transverse to ber direction.

Table 8 2 3 Maximum percentage difference in buckling loads, and postbuckling strengths (i.e., N xy b =E2 h ) corresponding to maximum transverse deection (i.e., wmax/h) equal to 1.5, of quasi-isotropic laminate with various shaped cutouts for different sizes. Cutout size Maximum percentage difference in buckling loads Positive shear A1 A2 A3 1.60 8.80 11.90 Negative shear 1.76 5.24 15.80 Maximum percentage difference in postbuckling strengths (i.e., N xy b =E2 h ) corresponding to maximum transverse deection (i.e., wmax/h) equal to 1.5 Positive shear 2.15 4.56 6.78 Negative shear 2.10 5.00 11.30
2 3

 In the presence of circular cutout of size A3, the (45/45)4s laminate has minimum rst-ply failure load, whereas the (+45/ 45/0/90)2s laminate has the maximum rst-ply failure load for both directions of shear load.

 The mode of rst-ply failure is transverse mode due to in-plane normal stresses transverse to the ber direction for all laminate lay-ups, except (0/90)4s laminate under negative shear load. Under negative shear load, the in-plane shear stresses cause the rst-ply failure of (0/90)4s laminate.

Fig. 9. Effect of shear directions on loaddeection response of quasi-isotropic laminate with and without a typical circular cutout.

2976

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

160

140

Positive shear
140 120 100
3

Positive shear
120 100 80 60 40

Nxyb /E2h

80 60 40

(45/-45/0/90)2s
20 0

Nxyb /E2h

(45/-45/0/90)2s
20 0

(45/-45)4s (0/90)4s
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

(45/-45)4s (0/90)4s
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

wmax/h
220 200 180 160 140
3

wmax/h
140 120 100
3

Negative shear

Negative shear

Nxyb /E2h

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 1 2 3 4 5
(45/-45/0/90) 2s (45/-45)4s (0/90)4s

Nxyb /E2h

80 60 40 20 0

(45/-45/0/90)2s (45/-45)4s (0/90)4s

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

wmax/h
Fig. 10. Effect of composite lay-up on loaddeection response of square laminate without cutout under positive and negative shear loads.

wmax/h
Fig. 11. Effect of composite lay-up on loaddeection response of square laminate with typical circular cutout of size A3 under positive and negative shear loads.

 The rst-ply failure starts at cutout edge in the case of (45/ 45)4s laminate with circular cutout, whereas it starts at corner of the laminate in (+45/45/0/90)2s and (0/90)4s laminates with circular cutouts.

 The (+45/45/0/90)2s laminate with circular cutout of size A3 has maximum ultimate failure load while the (0/90)4s laminate has minimum ultimate failure load. The mode of ultimate failure is the loss of stiffness for all laminates with and without circular cutout, irrespective of the directions of shear load.

Table 9 Detail of failure characteristics of (+45/45/0/90)2s, (45/45)4s and (0/90)4s laminates with and without a typical circular cutout of size A3 under positive and negative shear loads. Laminate Cutout shape Positive shear BLa/FPFb load/ (wmax/h)c (45/45/0/90)2s (45/45)4s (0/90)4s
a b c d e f g

Negative shear FEd/FLe/mode of FPF 1/1/transverseg 139/1/transverse 1/1/transverse 72/16/transverse 1/1/transverse 1/1/transverse UFf load/mode of UF 151.4/loss of stiffness 101.9/loss of stiffness 104.1/loss of stiffness 59.4/loss of stiffness 100.8/loss of stiffness 62.3/loss of stiffness BLa/FPFb load/ (wmax/h)c 51.2/82.0/2.40 28.3/54.8/3.08 58.3/91.4/3.41 28.1/38.0/2.48 36.5/57.8/1.95 19.0/46.0/2.82 FEd/FLe/mode of FPF 21/2/transverseg 37/2/transverse 5/2/transverse 42/2/transverse 5/1/in-plane shear 103/1/in-plane shear UFf load/mode of UF 207.5/loss of stiffness 105.8/loss of stiffness 127.7/loss of stiffness 65.0/loss of stiffness 76.7/loss of stiffness 56.4/loss of stiffness

Without cutout Circular Without cutout Circular Without cutout Circular

43.7/61.4/1.41 20.7/39.3/2.07 46.2/70.4/2.74 23.0/31.5/2.08 29.1/46.6/1.19 15.7/35.0/2.00

Buckling load. First-ply failure. Non-dimensionalized maximum transverse deection at the rst-ply failure. First failed element number. First failed layer number/interface of the rst failed element. Ultimate failure. Transverse mode of failure refers to the failure of lamina in a direction perpendicular to the ber direction due to in-plane stresses transverse to ber direction.

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978

2977

Acknowledgements The present work is the part of CSIR Project (No. 22(0442)/07/ EMR-II) and K.K. Birla Academy project. The nancial support by CSIR, New Delhi and K.K. Birla Academy to execute the project is highly appreciated. Appendix A The nite-element formulation for laminated composite plates based on the rst order shear deformation theory is briey described here. The formulation is based on the virtual work equation for a continuum in the total Lagrangian coordinate system under the assumption of small strains. The displacement within an element is interpolated by an expression of the form

Appendix B B.1. (i) Tsai-Hill criterion In this criterion a considerable interaction exists among failure strengths of the lamina as against the other non-interactive criteria such as Hashin [28] and Tsais [29] tensor polynomial criteria. Tensor polynomial form of the Tsai-Hill criterion can be obtained from the following most general polynomial failure criterion of Tsai [29] at failure state.

F 1 r1 F 2 r2 F 3 r3 2F 12 r1 r2 2F 13 r1 r3 2F 23 r2 r3 F 11 r2 F 22 r2 F 33 r2 F 44 s2 F 55 s2 F 66 s2 P 1 1 2 3 23 13 12
wherein Fi, Fij are the strength tensors of the second and fourth rank; r1, r2, r3 are the normal stress components in principal material directions 1, 2 and 3, respectively (the subscript 1 referring to the ber direction); s12, s13, s23 are the shear stress components in the planes 12, 13 and 23, respectively. In Tsai-Hill criterion the following strength tensors are used in the above expression.

fUg u; v ; w; hx ; hy T

n X i1

Ni I5 fai g;

where {U} is the value of displacement components at a point within an element, n is number of nodes in an element, Ni is shape functions of a nine noded Lagrangian element, for i = 1, n, I5 = 5 5 unit matrix, and fai gi uoi ; v 0i ; w0i ; hxi ; hyi T is the nodal displacement vector for ith node. From the principle of virtual work and the total Lagrangian formulation, the element nonlinear equilibrium equation is derived as:

F 1 F 2 F 3 0; F 44 F 13

wfag

B0 fNg Bb fMg Bs fQ gdA F 0

1 F 33 2 ; X Y  Z  1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 ; F 55 2 ; F 66 2 ; F 12 2 2 ; 2 2 X R T Y Z S     1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ; F 23 : 2 Z2 X2 Y 2 2 Y 2 Z2 X 2 F 11
2

F 22

where w{a} is the residual force which is a function of displacement vector {a}, [B0], [Bb] and [Bs] is straindisplacement matrices corresponding to in-plane axial, bending and shear strains, respectively, {N} is stress resultants per unit length, {M} is Moment resultants per unit length, {Q} is transverse shear stress resultants per unit length, and F is the external applied loads (includes in-plane loads as well as transverse forces). The NewtonRaphson method is used to solve these nonlinear algebraic equations using a combined incremental and iterative procedure. If for an initial estimate of {aj} (i.e., for jth iteration), the residual forces wfagj 0 then an improved solution {aj+1} is obtained by equating to zero the linearized Taylors series expansion of w{a}j+1 in the neighborhood of {aj} as

In the above expressions X, Y and Z are the normal strengths (tensile or compressive, depending upon the sign of r1, r2, r3) along principal material directions 1, 2 and 3, respectively; R, S and T are the shear strengths of lamina in-planes 23, 13 and 12, respectively. B.2. (ii) Interlaminar failure criterion As per the interlaminar failure criterion, the onset of delamination takes place when the interlaminar transverse stress (calculated by integration of equilibrium equations) components satisfy the following expression:

r3 rDN

2

wfagj1 wfagj K T Dfaj g 0

where D{aj} is the incremental displacement vector and KT is the tangent stiffness matrix evaluated at {aj} and is given by:

s2 s2 13 23 P1 r2 DS

KT

  @wfaj g @a

where r3 is the transverse normal stress component; s13, s23 are the transverse shear stress components in principal material planes 13 and 23, respectively; rDN is the peel strength and rDS is the interlaminar shear strength; these are taken equal to the tensile normal transverse strength and transverse shear strength (corresponding to the planes 13) of lamina, respectively. References
[1] Jones RM. Mech Compos Mater. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1975. [2] Britt VO. Shear and compression buckling analysis for anisotropic panels with elliptical cutouts. AIAA 1994;32(11):22939. [3] Jain P, Kumar A. Postbuckling response of square laminates with a central circular/elliptical cutout. Compos Struct 2004;65:17985. [4] Ghannadpour SAM, Naja A, Mohammadi B. On the buckling behavior of crossply laminated composite plates due to circular/elliptical cutouts. Comput Struct 2006;75:36. [5] Guo SJ. Stress concentration and buckling behaviour of shear loaded composite panels with reinforced cutouts. Compos Struct 2007;80(1):19. [6] Guo S, Zhou L, Cheung CW. Cutout reinforcements for shear loaded laminate and sandwich composite panels. Int J Mech Mater Des 2008;4:15771. [7] Kumar D, Singh SB. Effects of boundary conditions on buckling and postbuckling responses of composite laminate with various shaped cutouts. Compos Struct 2010;92:76979. [8] Zhang Y, Matthews FL. Postbuckling behavior of anisotropic laminated plates under pure shear and shear combined with compressive loading. AIAA 1984;22(2):2816.

The improved solution is then found as:

faj1 g faj g Dfaj g:

To improve on the numerical stability and convergence of the solution, the load is applied in small increments. The iterative solution is checked for convergence using the following criterion:

" #1=2 wT w FT F

100 6 b

where b is sufciently small number, i.e., 0.001%. The integration of expressions for w{a} and KT is carried out using the Gaussian quadrature. A selective integration scheme is adopted with a 3 3 integration rule to evaluate integrals of the functions of the membrane and the bending behaviour and a 2 2 integration rule is used for the transverse shear component.

2978

D. Kumar, S.B. Singh / Composite Structures 92 (2010) 29662978 WR, De Wilde WP, editors. Proceedings of the international conference of computer aided design in composite material technology; April 1988. p. 459 73. Vellaichamy S, Prakash BG, Brun S. Optimum design of cutouts in laminated composite structures. Comput Struct 1990;37(3):2416. Romeo G. Analytical and experimental behaviour of laminated panels with rectangular opening under biaxial tension, compression and shear loads. J Compos Mater 2001;35(8):63964. Anil V, Upadhyay CS, Iyengar NGR. Stability analysis of composite laminate with and without rectangular cutout under biaxial loading. Compos Struct 2007;80(1):92104. Guo S, Morishima R, Zhang X, Mills A. Cutout shape and reinforcement design for composite C-section beams under shear load. Compos Struct 2009;88(2):17987. Singh SB. Postbuckling response, strength and failure of symmetric laminates. Ph.D. Dissertation, Kanpur, Indian Institute of Technology; December, 1996. Singh SB, Kumar D. Postbuckling response and failure of symmetric laminated plates with rectangular cutouts under uniaxial compression. Struct Eng Mech 2008;29(4):45567. Reddy YSN, Reddy JN. Linear and nonlinear failure analysis of composite laminates with transverse shear. Compos Sci Technol 1992;44(4):22755. Hashin Z. Failure criteria for unidirectional ber composites. J Appl Mech 1980;47(3):32934. Tsai SW. A survey of macroscopic failure criteria for composite materials. J Reinf Plast Compos 1984;3:4062.

[9] Singh SB, Kumar A. Postbuckling response and failure of symmetric laminates under in-plane shear. Compos Sci Technol 1998;58:194960. [10] Kaminski BE, Asthon JE. Diagonal tension behaviour of boron epoxy shear panels. J Compos Mater 1971;5:5538. [11] Prabhakar MK, Kennedy JB. Nonlinear behaviour of unsymmetric angle-ply, rectangular plates under in-plane shear. J Mech Eng Sci 1979;21:20512. [12] Aggarwal BL. Postbuckling behaviour of composite shear webs. AIAA 1981;19:9339. [13] Kosteletos S. Postbuckling response of laminated plates under shear loads. Compos Struct 1992;20:13745. [14] Singh SB, Kumar A, Iyengar NGR. Progressive failure of symmetric laminated plates under in-plane shear: I-positive shear. Struct Eng Mech 1998;6(2):14359. [15] Singh SB, Kumar A, Iyengar NGR. Progressive failure of symmetric laminated plates under in-plane shear: II-negative shear. Struct Eng Mech 1998;6(7):75772. [16] Jha PN, Kumar A. Response and failure of square laminates under combined loads. Compos Struct 2002;55(3):33745. [17] Iyengar NGR, Chakraborty A. Study of interaction curves for composite laminate subjected to in-plane uniaxial and shear loadings. Compos Struct 2004;64(34):30715. [18] Nemeth MP. Buckling and postbuckling behavior of laminated composite plates with a cutout. NASA Technical Paper 3587; July 1996. [19] Herman RJ. Postbuckling behavior of graphite/epoxy cloth shear panels with 45-anged lightening holes. M.S. Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California; 1982. [20] Turvey GJ, Sadeghipour K. Shear bukling of anisotropic bre-reinforced rectangular plates with central circular cutouts. In: Carlos A Brebbia, Blain

[21] [22]

[23]

[24]

[25] [26]

[27] [28] [29]