Effects of unsteady aerodynamic pressure load on the interlaminar stresses of laminated composite strips

The effects on the interlaminar stresses of an unsteady aerodynamic loading on a laminated composite strip are studied. A stress-function-based variational approach and the finite difference method are used to determine the interlaminar stresses in a multilayered strip subjected to arbitrary combinations of axial extension, bending and the unsteady aerodynamic loading of supersonic fluid flow over the upper surface of laminated composite strips. Symmetric four-layer, cross-ply and angle-ply laminates are considered in detail. Some numerical solutions by using a personal computer are obtained. The present results show that the unsteady aerodynamic loading has significant effects on the interlaminar stresses near the free-edge regions.