Laminated Composites Containing an Elliptical Opening. I. Approximate Stress Analyses and Fracture Models

Approximate stress analyses are presented for orthotropic composite laminates contain ing an elliptical opening under uniaxial normal loads. Examining by the use of exact elasti city solution shows that these approximate solutions have excellent accuracy. Utilizing these solutions, the point stress fracture criterion and the average stress fracture criterion are generalized for the strength prediction of fiber-reinforced composite laminates contain ing an elliptical opening. Comparisons show that these models have good correlation with experimental data.