The Effects of Thickness and Stacking Sequence on Crippling Phenomenon for Laminated Composite Structures

Thickness and stacking sequence are two important parameters that affect the crippling of composites. By considering the influential factors, both empirical and numerical approaches have been investigated in this search. Firstly, a test has been validated with two types of analyses methods. Secondly, the thickness has been decreased to half to determine the geometrical effect and simulations have been performed. Thirdly, stacking sequence has been changed by keeping the thickness same and analyzed numerically. At the end of the finite element analyses, it could be stated that thickness alteration is more powerful way to change crippling strength of composites with respect to the layup change. Also, the analyses have been modeled and analyzed in two types of methods as Static, Riks and Dynamic, Explicit. Accordingly, it could be concluded that both analyses methodologies can be applied; but Dynamic, Explicit has given more conservative results. These results are summarized in Table II.