Failure Analysis of Composite Laminates with a Fastener Hole

Stress and strength analysis of composite laminates with a through-the-thickness circular hole under uniaxial tensile load has been conducted. The hole is filled with a rigid core simulating a bolt. As a representation of the force at the bolted joint, displacement boundary conditions are applied to the rigid core. The stress analysis is based on treating the laminate as a homogeneous plate using a finite element technique. The strength analysis is based on the tensor polynomial failure criterion applied to each ply. The ultimate laminate failure strength is based on the last ply failure stress. The resulting predictions of strength are found to be conservative as compared to experimental values.