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Modified Tsai‐Wu failure criterion for fiber‐reinforced composite laminates
Author(s) -
Pang SuSeng,
Pandian Annamalai,
Bradshaw Roger D.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
polymer composites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1548-0569
pISSN - 0272-8397
DOI - 10.1002/pc.750130404
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , ultimate tensile strength , micromechanics , composite number , composite laminates , fiber , structural engineering , engineering
The Tsai‐Wu Quadratic Failure Criterion provides satisfactory strength predictions for fiber‐reinforced composite materials but requires five experimental tests to determine the strength parameters. This paper presents two modifications of this criterion, which employ micromechanics to determine these parameters. Experiments on uniaxial and multiaxial vinyl ester/fiberglass composite laminates show that the first modified failure criterion, which is based solely on fiber and resin properties, predicts strength within an average absolute error of 25.4% in comparison to the experimentally determined strength. The addition of a single longitudinal tensile test to the modified expression (second modified failure criterion) reduces the average absolute error to 15.9%. This compares well with the Tsai‐Wu Failure Criterion, which gives an average absolute error of 9.4%. The proposed modified criteria are shown to provide satisfactory failure predictions, while greatly reducing the amount of testing required.