Author(s)

F. Paris, A. Blazquez & J. Canas

Abstract

The Boundary Element Method is characterized by its excellent capacity to deal with local problems that arise in the boundary of the domain under consideration. In this paper the local problems studied are associated to two tests currently used for the determination of the intralaminar shear modulus G\2 in composite materials. The fundamental solution corresponding to orthotropic materials is used in the Boundary Elements formulation, a contact algorithm allowing non conforming discretizations of the contact zone having been used. The analysis developed shows the presence of some local effects (singular contact stresses in the losipescu Test and eccentricity of the load in the modified Off-axis test), which could be the origin of wrong results obtained running both tests. 1 Introduction

Keywords