Failure Behavior of Plain Weave Fabric Laminates under On-Axis Uniaxial Tensile Loading: I—Analytical Predictions

A two-dimensional woven fabric composite strength model is presented for the prediction of failure strength of two-dimensional orthogonal plain weave fabric laminates under on-axis uniaxial static tensile loading. Different stages of failure such as warp strand transverse failure, fill strand shear/transverse failure, pure matrix block failure and the failure of matrix and fiber in the fill strand in longitudinal tension are considered. Material and geometrical nonlinearities have been considered for predicting the stress-strain behavior. The studies were carried out for three idealized laminate configurations. The possible shift of layers with respect to each other along x-, Y- and -directions were considered for the laminates. A comprehensive experimental program was carried out on different material systems. A very good correlation is observed between the predicted and the experimental results.