RELIABILITY OF UNIDIRECTIONAL FIBROUS COMPOSITES

The paper deals with a fundamental method to evaluate the reliability of undirectional fibrous composites under any plane stress condition, and the effects of various factors on the reliability are investigated. It is found that the proposed method based on a recent structural reliability theory is useful and that the variations of principal strengths, applied stresses, and orientation angles reduce the reliability. The emphasis is placed on the orientation angle along which the maximum reliability is obtained, and it is found that the optimum angle varies with the variation of the applied stress in some cases. © 1990 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., All rights reserved.