EVALUATION OF BUCKLING AND FIRST-PLY FAILURE, PROBABILITIES OF COMPOSITE LAMINATES

A procedure for failure probability evaluation of composite laminates subjected to in plane loads is proposed. The material properties, fibe r angles and layer thicknesses of the laminates are treated as random variables in the reliability analysis. The statistics of first-ply fai lure loads and buckling strengths of the laminates are determined via the stochastic finite element method. The failure probabilities of the laminates which are susceptible to buckling and first-ply failure are computed using the statistics obtained in the stochastic finite eleme nt analysis. The feasibility and accuracy of the present approach are validated using the results obtained via the Monte-Carlo method. A num ber of examples of reliability analysis of composite laminates subject to in-plane loads are given to illustrate the applications of the pro cedure. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.