THE CONTACT-BEHAVIOR BETWEEN LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES AND RIGID SPHERES

The contact behavior between a composte laminate and a rigid sphere is discussed in this paper using a method derived from the three-dimensi onal anisotropic elasticity theory. Response of the plate and the forc e-indentation (F - alpha) relationship were obtained by constructing a n exact Green's function of the laminate. Agreement between the predic tion and th experimental data reported by other is excellent before la minates are damaged. The F - alpha relationship is approximately propo rtional to the out-of-plane Young's modulus and is influenced by the p late thickness. Tjhe effects of changing the in-place Young's moduli, all the shear moduli, stackinmg sequences and span of the laminate are insignificant unless identation is large. Further, the modified Hertz law underestimates the contact force for the same identation.