STRESSES IN LAMINATED COMPOSITE ANNULAR DISKS SUBJECTED TO A CONCENTRATED TRANSVERSE EDGE LOAD

Polar orthotropic and rectangular orthotropic annular disks are analys ed for displacements and stresses when subjected to a concentrated tra nsverse load at the free outer edge. The inner edge of the disk is ass umed to be clamped. The material properties are varied and the resulti ng variation in the maximum displacements and stresses is studied. In the case of rectangular orthotropic annular disks, multilayered disks are analysed. It is shown that there is a very large improvement in th e factor of safety as the number of layers with different fiber orient ations is increased, so much so that a multilayered rectangular orthot ropic annular disk has safer stress values than a polar orthotropic an nular disk with radial fibres. The finite element method with sector e lements is used for the analysis.