Geometrically Nonlinear Stress Recovery in Composite Laminates Subjected to Dynamic Loading

Abstract

Stress recovery based on using results from a two-dimensional platetheory solution is a common method to estimate the transverse stresses in a plate. The development of a stress recovery procedure based directly on plate-theory finite element solutions, or other discrete data, applicable to situations in which geometrically nonlinear and inertial effects are important, is presented. The procedure is applied to an example flat plate under the influence of dynamic loading. Results from the developed procedure are presented and they compare well to those from a benchmark three-dimensional finite-element solution.The range of applicability of the procedure, considering plate span-tothickness ratio and degree of nonlinearity, is presented. Finally, a discussion is included in which the effort (in terms of computational time) to obtain an accurate transverse stress distribution by the stress recovery method is compared to that of the benchmark three-dimensional solution.