A Numerical Approach to Estimate First Ply Failure of Fibre Metal Laminate

Fibre Metal Laminates (FMLs) are laminates consisting of metal layers and fibre reinforced composite layers. These laminates are designed to improve some specific properties of constituent metals and composites layers. Estimation of First Ply Failure (FPF) Loads of these FMLs is a part in the broad characterization of these materials. A numerical method is developed for the estimation of FPF when these laminates are used as simply supported plates subjected to uniformly distributed load. Various failure criterions are used to identify these loads. The proposed method has been validated with the results of exact (Navier) solution available in the literature. FPFs are estimated for different groups of FMLs based on Aluminum, Titanium and Magnesium layers. The results are presented in the form of non-dimensional FPF and deformation values for various aspect ratios.