A complete elastic-plastic analysis of aramid fibre composites

The bending behaviour of aramid fibre composites is affected by the large difference between the tensile and compressive strengths of the fibre. An existing elastic-plastic model¹ based on elastic-perfectly plastic compressive and elastic brittle tensile behaviours is examined and enlarged. The enlargement focuses on the relationships between the depth of the yielded region and the displacement of the neutral axis and the applied moment, on the value of the interlaminar shear strength at the neutral axis, and on the critical span-to-depth ratio at which the transition from tensile to shear failure mode occurs.