Free-edge stress analysis of general composite laminates under extension, torsion and bending

In this study, based on the reduced form of elasticity displacement field for a long laminate, an analytical method is established to exactly obtain the interlaminar stresses near the free edges of generally laminated composite plates subjects to extension, torsion, and bending. The constant parameters being in the displacement field, which describe the global deformation of a laminate, are appropriately calculated by using the improved first-order shear deformation theory. Reddy’s layerwise theory is subsequently employed for analytical and numerical examinations of the boundary layer stresses within arbitrary laminated composite plates. Various numerical results are developed for the interlaminar normal and shear stresses along the interfaces and through the thickness of laminates near the free edges. Finally the effects of end conditions of laminates and geometric parameters on the boundary-layer stress are studied.