Moisture absorption effect on the stress distribution of the cross-ply laminates with transverse matrix cracks

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moisture absorption effect on the stress distribution of the cross-ply laminates with transverse matrix cracks. Two analytical models were used to evaluate the stress distribution, Shear Lag and the variational approach. The results show that a complete parabolic variation of displacement gives a good approximation of the stress distribution compared to the finite element analysis. Furthermore, the cracked cross ply laminate is submitted different temperature and moisture concentration distribution. The predicted model shows that moisture absorption has a significant effect on the stress distribution especially at the higher crack density.