Simulational Study on Biaxial Tensile Test of the Envelope Material of Stratospheric Airship

Tear propagation is the typical fracture mode of fabric laminates, which is affected by stress and damage shape (size). In this paper, envelope material which is mainly composed of fabric laminates used in stratospheric airship is the objective of the study. The tear propagation and tear strength of Cross-shaped specimens with initial damage which were in different situations (size, angle and shape) were studied through biaxial tensile test which was conducted in a tailor-made testing machine, and the strength is noted simultaneously to gain the mechanical properties of the specimens. A finite element model was also built in ABAQUS, simulating the biaxial tensile condition, and the simulation results were compared with the test results and observed to have good agreement between them.