Stress analysis of cross-ply composite laminates with transverse cracks

A boundary-discontinuous Fourier expansion method to analyze the displacements and stresses in cross-ply composite laminates with transverse cracks is presented. The governing equations of the problem are derived on the basis of the generalized plane strain assumption and two-dimensional equations of elasticity. By employing the boundary-discontinuous Fourier expansion method, the governing equations in the form of coupled high-order ODEs are transformed to a set of systems of linear algebraic equations. The method is used to obtain solutions for which published results can be found for comparisons. Compared with the conventional numerical methods for solving coupled high-order ODEs, the method presented is more efficient. Further parametric studies are carried out for cracked laminates with various geometric and material properties.