Experimental verification of the virtual isotropic material concept for the last-ply-failure of U-notched quasi-isotropic E-glass/epoxy composite laminates under tension-shear loading

Fracture investigation of U-notched E-glass/epoxy laminated composite specimens with various notch root radii is performed under mixed mode I/II loading conditions both experimentally and theoretically. Rectangular E-glass/epoxy composite laminates with two numbers of ply (8-ply and 16-ply) and the quasi-isotropic [0/90/+45/–45] _s lay-up configuration are fabricated for conducting the fracture tests. To measure the damage initiation angles (DIAs) and the last-ply-failure (LPF) loads of the fabricated composite samples containing horizontal and inclined U-notches, as the main aim of this study, the specimens are loaded under tension by the universal testing machine. The experimental LPF loads are theoretically predicted with the aid of a novel concept, called the Virtual Isotropic Material Concept (VIMC). The proposed VIMC is linked to the two well-known stress-based fracture criteria, namely the maximum tangential stress (MTS) and the mean stress (MS) criteria, in the context of the linear elastic notch fracture mechanics (LENFM). It is proved that the two combined criteria, namely the VIMC-MTS and VIMC-MS criteria, can predict well the LPF loads of the U-notched laminated composite specimens tested under mixed mode I/II loading conditions. One of the important merits of these new criteria is that the predictions of the LPF loads of the U-notched composite specimens are performed without complicated and time-wasting ply-by-ply damage analyses.