Hide Table of Contents

Coupling Behavior in Composites

Composite laminates exhibit coupling behavior which is required to interpret the deformation and stress results. The coupling behavior for example makes the composite laminates an attractive choice for use in aircraft as forward swept wings.

  • An unsymmetric laminate shows different couplings in response to external loading. For example, a tensile load can cause bending or twisting. The following couplings are possible for tensile and bending loads:

    • Extension-Bending, Extension-Twisting, Extension-Shearing-Bending-Twisting.

    • Bending-Extension, Bending-Shearing, Bending-Twisting-Extension-Shearing.

  • A symmetric laminate generally shows the following couplings for tensile and bending loads:

    • Extension-Shearing.

    • Bending-Twisting.

Examples of Extension-Bending coupling and Extension-Twisting coupling are shown below. Extension in one direction causes bending or twisting.

You can customize the behavior of laminates to suit specific applications by carefully selecting the ply layup.

Related Topic

Composite Shells



Provide feedback on this topic

SOLIDWORKS welcomes your feedback concerning the presentation, accuracy, and thoroughness of the documentation. Use the form below to send your comments and suggestions about this topic directly to our documentation team. The documentation team cannot answer technical support questions. Click here for information about technical support.

* Required

 
*Email:  
Subject:   Feedback on Help Topics
Page:   Coupling Behavior in Composites
*Comment:  
*   I acknowledge I have read and I hereby accept the privacy policy under which my Personal Data will be used by Dassault Systèmes

Print Topic

Select the scope of content to print:

x

We have detected you are using a browser version older than Internet Explorer 7. For optimized display, we suggest upgrading your browser to Internet Explorer 7 or newer.

 Never show this message again
x

Web Help Content Version: SOLIDWORKS 2012 SP05

To disable Web help from within SOLIDWORKS and use local help instead, click Help > Use SOLIDWORKS Web Help.

To report problems encountered with the Web help interface and search, contact your local support representative. To provide feedback on individual help topics, use the “Feedback on this topic” link on the individual topic page.

0.20.26