First Ply Failure Analysis of Laminated Composite Cylindrical Shells

Composite cylindrical shells are stiff surfaces with simple curved geometry and are extensively used to build large column free areas in shopping malls, airports and car parking lots with reasonably less material consumption. Laminated composites gained popularity in civil engineering structures as use of these materials results in reduced mass and mass induced forces like seismic forces. Failure study of these materials is necessary, which includes the load value (first ply failure load) at which failure initiates, the mode of failure and the failure propagation location. The present article aims to study first ply failure of uniformly loaded simply supported cylindrical shells using finite element method. An eight noded curved quadratic isoparametric shell element is used to develop the finite element program and validated through solution of benchmark problems. Well accepted failure criteria are used to evaluate the failure loads and failure modes.