CONTACT-STRESS PHENOMENA IN NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF UNIDIRECTIONALLY-REINFORCED COMPOSITE BEAMS

The contact-stress phenomena are known to have significant effects on the response of anisotropic composites. In particular, the numerical r esults demonstrating these phenomena are reported here for two classes of unidirectionally-reinforced composite structures. The first is the problem of an infinite half-plane subjected to two interacting forces , wherein the 'exact' solution is obtained using the Fourier integral technique. In the second, numerical finite element method (FEM) simula tions are given for the three- and four-point bending tests of short c omposite beams.