Flexural failure analysis of anisotropic elliptic plates

An initial flexural failure analysis of laminated anisotropic elliptic clamped plates subjected to a uniform lateral pressure is presented. Two failure modes are distinguished: general lamina failure and interlaminar shear failure. For each of these modes dimensionless initial failure loads have been computed for a range of aspect ratios and fibre orientations. These results are complemented by a set of critical thickness ratios which serve to distinguish which mode of failure governs for a particular case and hence which failure loads apply. It is concluded that general lamina failure is the dominant failure mode for the practical range of thickness ratios, though the likelihood of interlaminar shear failure occurring is greater in CFRP plates than in GFRP plates.