Generalized Free-Edge Stress Analysis Using Mechanics of Structure Genome

This work reveals the potential of mechanics of structure genome (MSG) for the free-edge stress analysis of composite laminates. First, the cross-sectional analysis specialized from MSG is formulated for solving a generalized free-edge problem of composite laminates. Then, MSG and the companion code SwiftComp™ are applied to the free-edge stress analysis of several composite laminates with arbitrary layups and general loads including extension, torsion, in-plane and out-of-plane bending, and their combinations. The results of MSG are compared with various existing solutions for symmetric angle-ply laminates. New results are presented for the free-edge stress fields in general laminates for combined mechanical loads and compared with three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis (FEA) results, which agree very well.