Abstract

The first-order shear deformation theory and the von Karman geometric non-linearity hypothesis are used to develop the finite element formulation. For the stochastic failure analysis, a stochastic finite element methodology based on the Monte Carlo Simulation is used. For the case of uni-axial compression and bi-axial compression, the tensor polynomial form of the maximum stress criterion is used to predict the failure of the lamina. For the case of bi-axial compression combined with in-plane positive or negative shear loadings, the tensor polynomial form of the 3-D Tsai-Hill criterion is used to predict the failure of the lamina. The maximum stress criterion is used to predict the onset of delamination at the interface between two adjacent layers. The influences of plate aspect ratio, symmetric and unsymmetric lay-ups, and fiber orientations on the deflection response, the first-ply failure load, the ultimate failure load, the failure mode and the maximum deflection associated with failure loads are determined.