.. _CLT_theory: Classical lamination theory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. csv-table:: Glossary :file: ./CLT_glossary.csv :widths: 20, 100, 20 :header-rows: 1 The Classical Lamination Theory (CLT) can be used to determine the stiffness, the strength and the effective material properties of laminated shells, as it is explained in many textbooks [Hopkins_2005]_. The fundamental assumptions are: * Laminate plies are perfectly bonded together. * The bonds are thin and displacements are continuous across boundaries. * Strains are small compared to unity. * Displacements are small compared to the laminate thickness. * The laminate thickness is small compared with the lateral dimensions. * The application of Kirchoff hypothesis for plates. In-plane displacements are a linear function of the thickness coordinates, which result in negligible interlaminar shear strain. * The laminate thickness is small compared with the lateral dimensions. The main objective of the CLT is to determine the laminate stiffness matrix, which is central for subsequent structural analysis. To this aim, first the constitutive behaviour of individual plies must be determined. Next, the relationship between the structural properties of the entire laminate and those of the individual plies and their corresponding orientations must be addressed. Mechanics of individual plies (ply mechanics) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A laminate is a set of plies with different fibre orientations bonded together. Hence, before developing laminate properties, it is necessary to address the issue on how to transform stresses, strains, compliances and stiffness from the ply coordinate system to the laminate coordinate system. Finally, the modulus matrix, thickness and height to ply mid-thickness are used to sum the contribution of each ply to obtain the laminate stiffness matrix. The stress transformation matrix used to transform stress from the laminate axis system to the ply axis system is given by: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \left[T_{\sigma}\right] = \begin{bmatrix} m^2 & n^2 & 2mn \\ n^2 & m^2 & -2mn \\ -mn & mn & m^2-n^2 \end{bmatrix} \end{aligned} :label: where :math:`m=\cos{\theta}` and :math:`n=\sin{\theta}` and determines the orientation of the ply as shown in Figure 2-5. On the other hand, the strain transformation matrix differs depending on whether the formulation at hand is dealing with tensorial strain or engineering strain. The Reuters transformation matrix can be used to cope effectively with the factors of one half and two in the stiffness and compliance matrices that arise depending on the actual strain being used [Barbero_2018]_. .. math:: \begin{aligned} \left[T_{\varepsilon}\right] = \begin{bmatrix} m^2 & n^2 & mn \\ n^2 & m^2 & -mn \\ -2mn & 2mn & m^2-n^2 \end{bmatrix} \end{aligned} :label: The ply modulus matrix in laminate system is finally obtained as: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \left[Q_{ij}\right]_{KL} = \left[T_{\sigma}\right]^{-1}_k : \left[Q_{ij}\right]_{kp} : \left[T_{\varepsilon}\right]_k \end{aligned} :label: Mechanics of the entire laminate (macromechanics) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The basic building block of a composite structure is a plate element. Even composite beams are thin-walled sections composed of plate elements [Barbero_2018]_. The constitutive equations for such an element are presented here. First, it must be noted that the sign conventions used for the definition of the laminate stacking sequence, ply orientation, strains, curvature and applied membrane and bending loads affect the sign of some of the terms of the laminate stiffness matrix. The convention used in RamSeries is shown in :numref:`Fig.SignConventionStacking` and :numref:`Fig.SignOrientation` . .. _Fig.SignConventionStacking: .. figure:: ./figures/ThicknessSignConvention.png :align: center Laminate's stacking sequence definition and sign convention. .. _Fig.SignOrientation: .. figure:: ./figures/OrientationConvention.png :align: center Orientation of individual ply local axes (1,2) in relation to the laminate global axes (x,y). The basis of the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) of plates is given by the following equations: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \varepsilon_x^0 (x,y) = \frac{\partial u_0}{\partial x} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \varepsilon_y^0 (x,y) = \frac{\partial v_0}{\partial y} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \gamma_{xy} (x,y) = \frac{\partial u_0}{\partial y} + \frac{\partial v_0}{\partial x} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \kappa_x (x,y) = \frac{\partial \varPhi_x}{\partial x} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \kappa_y (x,y) = \frac{\partial \varPhi_y}{\partial y} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \kappa_{xy} (x,y) = \frac{\partial \varPhi_x}{\partial y} + \frac{\partial \varPhi_y}{\partial x} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \gamma_{yz} (x,y,z) = - \varPhi_y + \partial w / \partial y \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \gamma_{xz} (x,y,z) = - \varPhi_x + \partial w / \partial x \end{aligned} :label: On the other hand, the basis for the classical plate theory (CPT) is given by the following set of equations, where transverse shear deformations (:math:`\gamma_{yz}` and :math:`\gamma_{xz}`) are neglected: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \varepsilon_x^0 (x,y) = \frac{\partial u_0}{\partial x} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \varepsilon_y^0 (x,y) = \frac{\partial v_0}{\partial y} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \gamma_{xy} (x,y) = \frac{\partial u_0}{\partial y} + \frac{\partial v_0}{\partial x} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \kappa_x (x,y) = \frac{\partial^2 \omega_0}{\partial x^2} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \kappa_y (x,y) = \frac{\partial^2 \omega_0}{\partial y^2} \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} \kappa_{xy} (x,y) =2 \frac{\partial^2 \omega_0}{\partial x \partial y} \end{aligned} :label: FSDT is more accurate specially in the case of laminated composites since these materials have low shear modulus (G1` the applied stress level is below the strength of the material. On the other hand, if :math:`R<1` then failure is predicted. The above expression can be arranged in quadratic form as: .. math:: \begin{aligned} a R^2 + b R + c = 0 \end{aligned} :label: Where .. math:: \begin{aligned} a=[F_{11} \sigma_1^2 + F_{22} \sigma_2^2 + 2 F_{12} (\sigma_1 \sigma_2) + F_{66} \sigma_{12}^2] \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} b=[F_1 R \sigma_1 + F_2 R \sigma_2] \end{aligned} :label: .. math:: \begin{aligned} c=-1.0 \end{aligned} :label: By solving for R, the reserve factor :math:`R_F` is obtained.