Comparison of fracture behaviour of a composite laminate with Cross-ply & Angle ply lay-up subjected to Thermal rise loading

There is an increased usage of advanced composite structures due to several inherent benefits that they offer in comparison with the monolithic materials. But the application of these materials is being limited by the fact that the knowledge about the crack propagation and strength behaviour under application of loads and environmental conditions is not extensive. So, undertaking research in this direction is still very much important. In this paper, a circular crack which is present in the middle of a composite laminate made up with a cross-ply (0/90) and Angle-ply (-451+45) was modelled and then subjected to thermal loading conditions where the temperature was considered to be rising to study the fracture behaviour. The fracture behaviour of the composite laminate was studied using the strain energy release rate (SERR) value calculated using Virtual crack closure technique (VCCT). Comparison of fracture behaviour between the cross-ply and angle-ply layups the thermal loading conditions on the SERR value in the 3 different modes of fracture with a circular crack located in the middle of the composite laminate was studied and the influence of these parameter was discussed in this paper. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.