Interlaminar Thermal Stresses in Polar-Anisotropic Circular Plates

Stresses and deformations due to a uniform change in temperature in plates of general polar anisotropy are determined. The plate was assumed to be symmetrically laminated, each lamina being oriented at an arbitrary angle with respect to the radial coordinate. Due to unconstrained and stress-free outer boundary of the plate, derivation of a closed-form solution for radial and circumferential displacements was possible. The interlaminar thermal stresses are then calculated and, using the Tsai-Wu tensorial failure theory, the reserve factors for each lamina interface has been determined. The material used for numerical results was chosen arbitrarily for purely illustration purposes. The results have shown that it was preferable, solely for the increased strength purposes, to have circumferentially wound fibers for the particular material and the lay-up chosen.