A T-SHAPED SPECIMEN FOR THE DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION OF ORTHOTROPIC MATERIALS

This paper deals with the definition of a new test specimen geometry f or the direct measurement of the four in-plane stiffness components of orthotropic materials. The technique is based on a suitable use of th e principle of virtual work. The choice and application of four differ ent types of virtual kinematic fields leads to a system of equations t hat links the four stiffness components to the global force applied an d geometry parameters. A numerical simulation based on finite element modelling is used to validate the approach. The stability of the proce ss is also demonstrated. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.