RELIABILITY-ANALYSIS OF NONLINEAR LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATE STRUCTURES

A procedure for the reliability analysis of laminated composite plate structures subjected to large deflections under random static loads is presented. The nonlinear analysis of laminated composite plate structures is achieved via a corotational total Lagrangian finite element formulation which is based on the von Karman assumption and first order shear deformation theory. This formulation is applicable for the nonlinear analysis of plate structures with large rotations but moderate deformation and thus accurate enough to predict the behavior of the structures at the point of failure. The reliability assessment of laminated composite plate structures with random strength subjected to random loads is approached by the determination of limit state surfaces in load space' The limit space surfaces are obtained by performing a series of first ply failure analyses following different load paths in load space using the proposed nonlinear structural analysis technique and an appropriate failure criterion. A numerical technique is then proposed to evaluate the reliability of the plate structures. Examples of the reliability analyses of laminated plates with different layer orientations subject to random loads are given for illustration.