Progressive failure of symmetrically laminated plates under uni-axial compression

The objective of this work is to predict the failure loads, associated maximum transverse displacements, locations and the modes of failure, including the onset of delamination, of thin, flat, square symmetric laminates under the action of uni-axial compression. Two progressive failure analyses, one using Hashin criterion and the other using Tensor polynomial criteria, are used in conjunction with the finite element method. First order shear deformation theory and geometric nonlinearity in the von Karman sense have been employed. Five different types of lay-up sequence are considered for laminates with all edges simply supported. In addition, two boundary conditions, one with all edges fixed and other with mixed boundary conditions for $(+45/-45/0/90)_{2s}$ quasi-isotropic laminate have also been considered to study the effect of boundary restraints on the failure loads and the corresponding modes of failure. A comparison of linear and nonlinear results is also made for $({\pm}45/0/90)_{2s}$ quasi-isotropic laminate. It is observed that the maximum difference between the failure loads predicted by various criteria depend strongly on the laminate lay-ups and the flexural boundary restraints. Laminates with clamped edges are found to be more susceptible to failure due to the transverse shear and delamination, while those with the simply supported edges undergo total collapse at a load slightly higher than the fiber failure load.