Inplane stress singularities at the interface corner of a bimaterial junction

In the mechanics of composite laminates the local mechanical inplane fields at interface corners of bimaterial junctions are of particular interest. This is due to the fact that the structural situation of a corner geometry and different material properties can cause singular behavior of the mechanical fields. In the present study, an asymptotic analysis of the stress fields near laminate reinforcement patch corners and jointed single plies is performed. Using the complex potential method based on Lekhnitskii's approach, the order of the singularity of the stress and strain fields at the interface corner of the junction can be determined in closed-form manner. Various geometries and material combinations of the interface corner are examined and their effect on the singular behavior is studied. The order of the singularity may be of real or of complex order depending on geometric and material parameters.