Influence of Size of Open Hole on Stability of Compressed Plate Made of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer

Abstract

This manuscript concerns the investigation of the influence of the open hole on stability of the compression plate made of carbon-epoxy composite. Experimental tests carried out on the real plate resulted in a postcritical path from which the critical load value was determined using appropriate approximation method. In parallel, an independent study was carried out based on a numerical analysis using the finite element method (FEM). Investiga - tions were conducted in terms of a linear eigenproblem analysis, from which the value of the bifurcation load was determined for the FEM model of the plate. Its values resulting from the numerical analyses were validated against the experimental results, thus confirming the adequacy of the designed FEM model of the plate. The paper shows that the incremental increase of the hole in the plate monotonically influences the decrease in the critical load of the plate. The largest decrease was observed for the specimen with the largest hole analysed and was 13.5% compared to a plate without a hole. The newness of the paper is the application of interdisciplinary investigation methods to describe the influence of the open hole compression (OHC) on the stability of composite plates. ABAQUS® was used as the tool with which the numerical analyses were realised.