Study of Stress Concentration in Polymeric Composites Using Finite Element Method 2010-36-0196

The stress concentration appears in components that have abrupt changes in its geometry or discontinuities such as holes, etc. Because of the presence of these discontinuities occurs a increasing of the stress value. There are several studies to estimate the increase of stress in metallic materials, however, a specific literature for calculating the stress concentration in composite materials is still low, even with the increase of its use in replacement of components made of metallic materials in recent years, particularly in the aerospace and automotive industries.

This study was elaborates a computer simulation program of a component with a cylindrical holy and used the finite element method for calculating the stress concentrations using the commercial software ANSYS 10.0. This simulation has the objective to analyze the structural behavior of the component. The material used in the simulation and the test is a laminated composite consisting of a polymeric matrix of PPS (Poly phenylene sulphide) reinforced with carbon fibers, which has the general characteristic of combining the high strength fibers with a low density of the polymeric matrix. The simulation program was validated by tests. In tests and simulation were used material with and without the hole and the results stress obtained will be used for the application of generalized failure criterion of Tsai-Wu.

The generalized failure criterion more popular is the criterion of Tsai-Wu. This theory considers that the criterion of von Mises, proposed for the initial yield of isotropic metals, could be modified to include effects of anisotropy in orthotropic materials ideally plastic.