Elastic stresses and failure of rotating cross-ply laminate disks

Centrifugal force acting on a rotating disk induces in-plane loads in the radial and circumferential directions. An application of fiber-reinforced composite materials to a rotating disk can satisfy the demand for increasing its rotating speed. However, previous researches have been confined to single lamina disks. In this paper, a stress analysis of rotating disks made of multidirectional laminates is performed. The Tsai-Wu failure criterion is applied to the strength analysis of the rotating laminate disks, from which the maximum allowable speeds are obtained. The cross-ply ratios providing the maximum allowable speeds are obtained for the glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy cross-ply laminate disks with CD geometry. This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Heoung Jae Chun Kyo-Nam Koo received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Seoul National University, Korea, in 1987 and 1989, respectively. He then received his Ph.D. degree from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 1994. Dr. Koo had worked with Korea Aerospace Research Institute for seven years after his education. He is currently a Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at University of Ulsan in Korea since 2001. His research interests include composite materials, structural dynamics, finite element analysis, and aeroelasticity.