Initiation of damage in composite plates under transverse central static loading

Experimental and analytical studies have been carried out on transverse sta tic central load threshold for damage initiation. Experiments have been car ried out on a typical plain weave E-glass/epoxy laminated plate. A good cor relation is observed between the experimental results and finite element an alysis predictions. Further. analytical studies have been carried out on th e effect of reinforcement architecture on the load threshold for damage ini tiation. It is observed that transverse static central load threshold for d amage initiation is higher for woven fabric composites compared to those of cross-ply laminates made of unidirectional layers and unidirectional compo sites. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.