The delamination buckling of single-fibre system and interply hybrid composites

The delamination buckling behaviour of single-fibre system and interply hybrid composites are studied. Due to the complicated combination of interply hybrid composites, the number of glass-fibre layers and the stacking sequence are varied to contrast their effects upon the buckling behaviour. Non-linear buckling analysis, which is a finite element method including contact elements to prevent the overlapping situation, was applied to predict the delamination buckling loads of the composites and compared with the experimental buckling loads. It is evident that non-linear buckling analysis predicts results that are close to the experimental results, and is, therefore, a good choice to precisely predicting buckling loads. For both types of composite, as expected, if the delamination length increases or the delamination is close to the surface of the laminate, the buckling load is significantly reduced. For interply hybrid composites, the number of glass-fibre layers and the different stacking sequences have pronounced effects on the buckling loads and must be carefully considered in design. Critical delamination length is also discussed for both types of composite. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.