Effect of Fiber Orientation on Mode I Crack Opening Stress Intensity of an Orthotropic Laminate

In this paper, the influence of fiber angle on Mode I transverse crack opening stress intensity in case of (AS4/3501-6) carbon/Epoxy laminate is studied. Ten independent fiber orientations are considered and both analytical and finite element solutions are presented using macro mechanics approach of analysis of orthotropic lamina and by using ANSYS10 finite element package. It is observed that the stress intensity at the crack tip increased gradually from zero degrees to seventy degrees and showed a decline after 70 degrees. It is observed that the variations in the load carrying capacity of matrix phase around the discontinuous fibers at the crack tip for different fiber orientations influenced the stress intensity variations. The results obtained from analytical and finite element approaches showed good congruence.