MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE LAMINATES WITH CONTINUOUS FIBER AROUND A CIRCULAR HOLE

The stress distribution of glass woven roving composites containing a circular hole was examined. Two types of circular hole, drilled and moulded-in, were considered. A finite element model which used the panel method to simulate the fiber configuration was used in the stress analysis of laminates with moulded-in circular hole. Experimental verification of strain distribution to check the accuracy of the model is also conducted. The stress distributions of [0-degrees], [90-degrees], [0-degrees/90-degrees], and [+/- 45-degrees]s laminates were investigated. Numerical results show that the stress distribution sigma(gamma) on laminates with a moulded-in hole is smaller than that with a drilled hole when loading in the fiber direction, but it is reversed when loading in the perpendicular direction. The fiber configurations and strain distributions of numerical and experimental were compared. The results agree well.