Application of Stress Analysis by Digital Image Correlation and Intelligent Hybrid Method to Unidirectional CFRP Laminate

Fiber reinforced composites are heterogeneous and anisotropic. The applicability of the stress analysis methods on such heterogeneous and anisotropic materials is not well known. In the present study, an attempt is made to apply the digital image correlation method and the intelligent hybrid method to a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminate. A material used is carbon/epoxy system. Laminate configuration is unidirectional. Tensile load is applied in off-axis (45 degrees) direction as well as longitudinal (0 degree) and transverse (90 degrees) directions on a CFRP laminate. Displacement, strain and stress fields due to the tensile loading in the CFRP unidirectional laminate are analyzed. The constitutive equation considering material anisotropy is built into the intelligent hybrid method used at the time of analyses. The validity of the algorithm is checked through comparison between results of the present method, experimental results from strain gauge method, and the analytical results from finite element method (FEM).