M. Grediac et F. Pierron, A T-SHAPED SPECIMEN FOR THE DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION OF ORTHOTROPIC MATERIALS, International journal for numerical methods in engineering, 41(2), 1998, pp. 293-309
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.