Free-edge stress analysis of general rectangular composite laminates under bending, torsion and thermal loads

• An analytical solution is developed to determine the interlaminar stresses.
• Rectangular laminates with arbitrary laminations and BCs are considered.
• Laminates are subjected to bending, torsion and thermal loads.
• Analytical solution is based on a 3D multi-term extended Kantorovich method.
• The results show singular behavior of interlaminar stresses in boundary-layer region.

This paper represents an analytical solution to determine the interlaminar stresses of general rectangular thick laminated plates with arbitrary laminations based on a three-dimensional (3D) multi-term extended Kantorovich method (3DMTEKM) subjected to bending, torsion, and thermal loads. Laminates with finite dimensions are considered and full three-dimensional stresses in the interior and the boundary-layer regions are calculated. Numerical results show that this approach can accurately predict the 3D behavior of interlaminar stresses. Also, they clearly indicate the singular behavior of interlaminar normal and shear stresses in the boundary-layer regions near the edges of the laminate. The results obtained from this theory are compared with numerical or analytical results of the existing solutions or with those of ABAQUS finite element software for the cases which there exist no results in the literature. Finally, the power of the present approach in obtaining the interlaminar stresses in thick rectangular laminated plates with general lay-ups and finite dimensions is examined.