COMPOSITE PANELS CONTAINING MULTIPLE THROUGH-THE-WIDTH DELAMINATIONS AND SUBJECTED TO COMPRESSION .1. ANALYSIS

An analytical and experimental investigation was performed to study the compression response of laminated composite panels containing multiple through-the-width delaminations. Both flat and cylindrical panels were considered. The major objective of the study was to develop an analytical model for simulating the deformations of the laminated panels from initial loading to final collapse. The model consists of three parts: a stress analysis, a contact analysis, and a failure analysis. A nonlinear finite element code was developed based on the model. Extensive experimental work on T300/976 composites was also conducted during the investigation to verify the model and the numerical calculations. The results of the study will be presented in two parts: I - Analysis and II - Experiments. In this paper, the development of the analytical model, the implementation of the model into the finite element code, and comparisons between the calculations based on the model and the existing analytical and experimental results will be presented. The experiments performed during the investigation, and the comparisons between the calculations and the test data will be given in the second paper.