Program to calculate ILSS

[Statiker57]

Does anyone know of a program eg mathcad or excel, to calculate the interlaminar shear stresses on a composite laminate? I want to avoid going to a FEM solution if possible. Thanks

 

[FEA way]

Check eLamX2. It's an open-source laminated composite calculator with quite advanced capabilities. If this proves insufficient, FEA might be the best option. Such problem should be rather easy to solve, regardless of what FEA software you choose.

 

[Statiker57]

Thanks for the info. I've installed the eLamX2 program. Looks good but does not seem to answer my question about ILSS. Like most programs I've investigated it seems to be based around CLPT.
I have a laminated plate which is being loaded with out of plane bending so I'm concerned about delaminations due to excessive ILSS.

 

[fbdandloadpath]

Do you really need a FEM or code to investigate this? The horizontal shear stress on a laterally loaded plate is VQ/It, so you have an available check on the solution if you do utilize FEM or programs. Do you have allowable ILS data for the composite you are using? If you have 3 or 4 point bend strength data, and IF the failure mode was ILS, then you can correlate failure to VQ/It.