Failure behavior of laminated composite plates with two serial pin-loaded holes

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of geometrical parameters such as the edge distance-to-hole diameter ratio (E/D), plate width-to-hole diameter ratio (W/D), and the distance between two holes-to-hole diameter ratio (M/D) on the failure loads and failure modes in woven-glass–vinylester composite plates with two serial pin-loaded holes, experimentally and numerically. In the numerical analysis, the Hashin failure criterion was used in order to determine failure loads and failure modes. LUSAS commercial finite element software was utilized during the analysis. The numerical and experimental results showed that the ultimate load capacity of woven-glass–vinylester laminates with pin connections increased by increasing ratios E/D, W/D, and M/D.