Initial strain effects in multilayer composite laminates

A boundary integral formulation for the analysis of stress fields induced i n composite laminates by initial strains, such as may be due to temperature changes and moisture absorption is presented. The study is formulated on t he basis of the theory of generalized orthotropic thermo-elasticity and the governing integral equations are directly deduced through the generalized reciprocity theorem. A suitable expression of the problem fundamental solut ions is given for use in computations. The resulting linear system of algeb raic equations is obtained by the boundary element method and stress interl aminar distributions in the boundary-layer are calculated by using a bounda ry only discretization. The approach is general and it does not require a p riori assumptions. Numerical results are presented to show the potential of the proposed approach. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.