Orthotropic lamina coordinates

The term Cg3 is zero because no shear-extension coupling exists for an orthotropic lamina in principal material coordinates. For the orthotropic lamina, the Qn are... 

However, as mentioned previously, orthotropic laminae are often constructed in such a manner that the principal material coordinates do not coincide with the natural coordinates of the body. This statement is not to be interpreted as meaning that the material itself is no longer orthotropic instead, we are just looking at an orthotropic material in an unnatural manner, i.e., in a coordinate system that is oriented at some angle to the principal material coordinate system. Then, the basic question is given the stress-strain relations In the principal material coordinates, what are the stress-strain relations in x-y coordinates ... 

Note that the transformed reduced stiffness matrix Qy has terms in all nine positions in contrast to the presence of zeros in the reduced stiffness matrix Qy. However, there are still only four independent material constants because the lamina is orthotropic. In the general case with body coordinates x and y, there is coupling between shear strain and normal stresses and between shear stress and normal strains, i.e., shear-extension coupling exists. Thus, in body coordinates, even an orthotropic lamina appears to be anisotropic. However, because such a lamina does have orthotropic characteristics in principal material coordinates, it is called a generally orthotropic lamina because it can be represented by the stress-strain relations in Equation (2.84). That is, a generally orthotropic lamina is an orthotropic lamina whose principai material axes are not aligned with the natural body axes. 

Compare the transformed orthotropic compliances in Equation (2.88) with the anisotropic compliances in terms of engineering constants in Equation (2.91). Obviously an apparenf shear-extension coupling coefficient results when an orthotropic lamina is stressed in non-principal material coordinates. Redesignate the coordinates 1 and 2 in Equation (2.90) as X and y because, by definition, an anisotropic material has no principal material directions. Then, substitute the redesignated Sy from Equation (2.91) in Equation (2.88) along with the orthotropic compliances in Equation (2.62). Finally, the apparent engineering constants for an orthotropic iamina that is stressed in non-principal x-y coordinates are... 

The values in Figures 2-11 and 2-12 are not entirely typical of all composite materials. For example, follow the hints in Exercise 2.6.7 to demonstrate that E can actually exceed both E., and E2 for some orthotropic laminae. Similarly, E, can be shown to be smaller than both E. and E2 (note that for boron-epoxy in Figure 2-12 E, is slightly smaller than E2 in the neighborhood of 6 = 60°). These results were summarized by Jones [2-6] as a simple theorem the extremum (largest and smallest) material properties do not necessarily occur in principal material coordinates. The moduli Gxy xy xyx exhibit similar peculiarities within the scope of Equation (2.97). Nothing should, therefore, be taken for granted with a new composite material its moduli as a function of 6 must be examined to truly understand its character. 

Then, obviously the maximum principal stress is lower than the largest strength. However, 02 is greater than Y, so the lamina must fail under the imposed stresses (perhaps by cracking parallel to the fibers, but not necessarily). The key observation is that strength is a function of orientation of stresses relative to the principal material coordinates of an orthotropic lamina. In contrast, for an isotropic material, strength is independent of material orientation relative to the imposed stresses (the isotropic material has no orientation). 

Now that the basic stiffnesses and strengths have been defined for the principal material coordinates, we can proceed to determine how an orthotropic lamina behaves under biaxial stress states in Section 2.9. There, we must combine the information in principal material coordinates in order to define the stiffness and strength of a lamina at arbitrary orientations under arbitrary biaxial stress states. 

For plane stress on an orthotropic lamina in principal material coordinates. 

The magnitude of the elastic moduli obtained for an anisotropic material will depend on the orientation of the coordinates used to describe the material elastic response. However, if the material elastic moduli are known for coordinates aligned with the principal material directions, then the elastic moduli for any other orientation can be determined through appropriate transformation equations. Thus, only four elastic constants are needed in order to fully characterize the in-plane maaoscopic elastic response of an orthotropic lamina. The reference coordinates in the plane of the lamina are aligned with longitudinal axis (L) parallel to the fibers, and the transverse axis (7) perpendicnlar to the fibers. The engineering orthotropic elastic moduli of the lamina defined earher are... 

Orthotropic Lamina Hooke s Law in Principal Material Coordinates... 

In Section 2.2, the stress-strain relations (generalized Hooke s law) for anisotropic and orthotropic as well as isotropic materials are discussed. These relations have two commonly accepted manners of expression compliances and stiffnesses as coefficients (elastic constants) of the stress-strain relations. The most attractive form of the stress-strain relations for orthotropic materials involves the engineering constants described in Section 2.3. The engineering constants are particularly helpful in describing composite material behavior because they are defined by the use of very obvious and simple physical measurements. Restrictions in the form of bounds are derived for the elastic constants in Section 2.4. These restrictions are useful in understanding the unusual behavior of composite materials relative to conventional isotropic materials. Attention is focused in Section 2.5 on stress-strain relations for an orthotropic material under plane stress conditions, the most common use of a composite lamina. These stress-strain relations are transformed in Section 2.6 to coordinate systems that are not aligned with the principal material... 

The stress-strain reiations in principal material coordinates for a lamina of an orthotropic material under plane stress are... 

The orthotropic stress and strain relationships of Equations 8.42 and 8.43 were defined in principal material directions, for which there is no coupling between extension and shear behavior. However, the coordinates natural to the solution of the problem generally will not coincide with the principal directions of orthotropy. For example, consider a simply supported beam manufactured from an angle-ply laminate. The principal material coordinates of each ply of the laminate make angles 0 relative to the axis of the beam. In the beam problem stresses and strains are usually defined in the beam coordinate system (jc,y), which is off-axis relative to the lamina principal axes (L, T). 

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