Design guidelines for ply drop-off in laminated composite structures

The present investigation aims at developing a few guidelines for the desig n of tapered laminated composites. The tapering in laminated composites is introduced by terminating (dropping-off) plies at different locations. The main objective in designing a drop-off is to reduce stress concentration. A t present some thumb rules are used to design the drop-off. In this paper, guidelines have been developed by studying the effect of important paramete rs that determine the strength of the laminate. The numerical study shows t hat some of the thumb rules used at present are rather conservative and may be relaxed to an extent. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.