Hierarchical Evaluation of Failure Parameters in Composite Plates

This paper presents a failure analysis of simply supported, orthotopic plates subjected to global/local bending loadings via the Navier-type solution. Carrera's unified formulation is adopted in order to implement a large variety of two-dimensional theories. The minimum first-ply failure loading and the failure locations are obtained via classical, refined, zig-zag, layerwise, and mixed theories. The maximum stress, Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill, Hoffman, and Hashin failure criteria are assumed. The accuracy of two-dimensional theories is assessed via comparison with the three-dimensional Pagano's solution, which has here been extended to the considered cases. The influence of the side-to-thickness ratio, the aspect ratio, the material properties, the lamination layup, and the loading localization is investigated. A hierarchy among the Carrera's unified formulation two-dimensional models has been established.