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Journal of Science and Engineering

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Science and Engineering
Vol. 3 (1), 2013, 7-18
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On Stress Concentration Factor for Randomly Oriented

Discontinuous Fiber Laminas with Circular/Square Hole

Hashem Zamanian1, Bahador Marzban2, Pedram Bagheri3, Mohammad Gudarzi1

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Damavand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Damavand, Tehran, Iran
2
Center of Excellence in Design Robotics and Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology,
Tehran, Iran
3
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Abstract
Received: 10 May 2013
Accepted: 25 Jun 2013 In this paper, by using ABAQUS software, the FEM is applied to the SMC-R65 laminas with
circular/square hole under uniaxial loading and the calculation of the maximum of the stress
Keywords: isdone. Then, the stress concentration factor has been calculated. The stress distribution has
Rectangular Plate been presented for the two kinds of the plates studied. A comparison on stress concentration
Uniaxial Load factor for randomly oriented discontinuous fiber laminas between the results obtained with
E-Glass Fibers photo elastic, Howland and Heywood formulations has been done for the plate with a
FEM circular hole. Finally, Howland and Heywood formulations are developed for the plates with
Circular Hole square holes.
Square Hole

1. INTRODUCTION

Correspondence:
Mohammad Gudarzi
Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Damavand Branch,
Islamic Azad University,
Damavand, Tehran, Iran.
Composite materials are widely used in the aerospace industry along with
various applications in many other industries. Thin lamina containing
randomly oriented discontinuous fibers is one of the most applicable
composites. The use of composites in the aerospace industry and the other
engineering applications has increased dramatically since the 1970s. The
primary benefits that composite components can offer reduced weight and
simplification in assembly. The other advantage of composites over the
steel alloys is their resistive against corrosion. So, investigating on
composite materials attracts many researchers in recent years [1-6].
The stress concentration factor is required for estimation of the fatigue
life and stress intensity factor. In addition, crack initiation happens near the
stress concentration region. Therefore, many researchers have been
conducted on the determination of stress concentration factors. There are
many researches in the literature on the stress concentration factor of
isotropic and composite materials. Howland analyzed the stresses in the
neighbourhood of a circular hole in a strip under tension and he suggested a
formulation for calculation of the stress concentration factors of an isotropic
plate with circular holes [7].
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8 | P a g e H. Zamanian, B. Marzban, P. Bagheri, M. Gudarzi

Shastry and Rao studied stress concentration in tensile strips with large circular holes using FEM [8]. Paul
and Rao analyzed stress distribution around an elliptical hole in thick FRP laminate under transverse loading
by using of finite element formulation [9].
Ukadgaonker and Rao suggested a general solution for stresses around holes in symmetric laminates
under in-plane loading by adapting the formulation given by Savin [10]. Arslan et al. used FEM to predict
the elastic-plastic behaviour of thermoplastic composite laminated plates with square holes [11].
Hwai-Chung and Bin proposed an empirical method for calculation of the stress concentrations of an
isotropic/orthotropic plate with circular holes [12]. Toubal et al. used a non-contact measurement method,
namely Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometer (ESPI), to investigate the tensile strain field of a
composites plate in the presence of stress concentrations caused by a geometrical defect consisting of
circular holes [13]. Jain and Mittal investigated the effect of hole’s diameter to plate width upon stress
concentration factor (SCF) and deflection in isotropic, orthotropic and laminated composite plates under
different transverse static loading condition [14]. Mohammadi et al. analysed the stress concentration around
a hole in a radially inhomogeneous plate [15]. They derived and solved differential equation of the stress
function for plane stress conditions.
The above review suggests that no work has been done to investigate stress concentration factor of
randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina with circular and square holes. So, the purpose of this work is
investigation of the stress concentration factor for a sheet molding compound composites, designed
SMC-R65, containing E-glass fibers in a thermoset polyester matrix with circular hole and then developing a
closed-form formula for calculating stress concentration of the plates with square hole.

2. STRESS CONCENTRATION AROUND THE CIRCULAR HOLE

In this part, the stress concentration factor of a randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina with circular
hole has been calculated using FEM. Randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina under uniaxial in-plane
loading is analyzed using parameters given in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina with circular hole

Stress concentration factor for orthotropic materials is given by Heywood as [16]

( )
( ) ( )[ ( ) ] (1)
( )

where M is a magnification factor that is as

 Journal of Science and Engineering Vol. 3 (1), 2013, 7-18 Page |9

( )
√ [ ]
( ) (2)

( )

and is infinite stress concentration factor. Infinite stress concentration factor equals to 3 for isotropic
materials with circular hole. Then, the stress concentration factor for randomly oriented discontinuous fiber
lamina with circular hole can be obtained as

( )
(3)
( )

So, the net concentration factor using Heywood formulation will be as

( ) (4)

The stress concentration factor for isotropic materials is given by Howland as

( ) ( ) (5)
( )

Also, net concentration factor is

( ) (6)

Table 1 shows the stress concentration factor using Heywood and Howland formulations with respect to the
distance from the hole.
In the next step, a SMC-R65 lamina with circular hole is modelled with commercial FEM software and is
meshed as shown in Figure 2. Modelled plate length, width and thickness are equal to 1 m, 0.5 m and 1 mm,
respectively. The left side of the plate is simply supported and a uniform distributed force equal to 10000 N/m
is applied to the plate’s right side. In addition, 492 free triangular meshes are used for meshing the plate in the
Abaqus software. The relations between matrix and fibers mechanical properties and the composite
mechanical properties are given in the Appendix.

Fig. 2. The meshed SMC-R65 lamina with circular hole

10 | P a g e H. Zamanian, B. Marzban, P. Bagheri, M. Gudarzi

Table 1. Stress concentration factor of plate with circular hole using Heywood and Howland formulation
Heywood Howland
r ( m) w (m) 2r/w A (m2)

0.005 0.5 0.02 0.0005 3 3.0012 2.941 3.005 2.944

0.01 0.5 0.04 0.0005 3 3.0049 2.885 3.008 2.888
0.02 0.5 0.08 0.0005 3 3.0203 2.779 3.023 2.781
0.03 0.5 0.12 0.0005 3 3.0471 2.681 3.051 2.685
0.04 0.5 0.16 0.0005 3 3.0866 2.593 3.092 2.598
0.05 0.5 0.2 0.0005 3 3.14 2.512 3.149 2.519
0.07 0.5 0.28 0.0005 3 3.2962 2.373 3.314 2.386
0.11 0.5 0.44 0.0005 3 3.885 2.176 3.933 2.203
0.12 0.5 0.48 0.0005 3 4.1166 2.141 4.175 2.171
0.13 0.5 0.52 0.0005 3 4.3971 2.111 4.467 2.144
0.14 0.5 0.56 0.0005 3 4.7391 2.085 4.821 2.121
0.15 0.5 0.6 0.0005 3 5.16 2.064 5.255 2.102
0.16 0.5 0.64 0.0005 3 5.6852 2.047 5.795 2.086
0.17 0.5 0.68 0.0005 3 6.3524 2.033 6.477 2.073
0.18 0.5 0.72 0.0005 3 7.2213 2.022 7.362 2.061
0.19 0.5 0.76 0.0005 3 8.3909 2.014 8.549 2.052

The properties of modelled SMC-R65 lamina are given in Table 2. Note that and are the
longitudinal and transverse tensile moduli, respectively, and for a SMC-R65 lamina and
[17].

Table 2. Mechanical properties of SMC-R65 lamina

Tensile modulus Shear modulus Poisson’s ratio

14.81 GPa 5.35 GPa 0.385

Maximum stress and the region of stress concentration are obtained by Von Misses stress distribution
criteria. In each step of calculating stress concentration, maximum stress is obtained by using of Von Misses
stress distribution and dividing by the average stress. Strain and Von Misses stress distribution for SMC-R65
lamina under uniaxial loading are given in Figures 3 and 4.

Fig. 3. Strain distribution for SMC-R65 lamina with circular hole

 Journal of Science and Engineering Vol. 3 (1), 2013, 7-18 P a g e | 11

Fig. 4. Von misses stress distribution for SMC-R65 lamina with circular hole

Figure 5 shows the stress distribution along Path A-A.

30000000
25000000
20000000
stress (Pa)

15000000
10000000
5000000
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
distance (m)

Fig. 5. Stress distribution along path A-A for plate with circular hole

Table 3 compares the stress concentration factor with respect to the distance from the hole using FEM and
using Photo Elastic Method. Photoelasticity is an experimental method that can be applied both to three
dimensional and two dimensional state of stress [18]. Also, Maximum stress has been extracted from
ABAQUS software.

Table 3. Stress concentration factor of plate with circular hole using ABAQUS software

r (m) d/2 (m) D (m) r/d ( ) ( ) ( )

0.005 0.245 0.49 0.01 0.00049 1.02 2.681 2.63 2.9

0.01 0.24 0.48 0.02 0.00048 1.042 2.76 2.65 2.8
0.02 0.23 0.46 0.04 0.00046 1.087 2.774 2.55 2.7
0.03 0.22 0.44 0.07 0.00044 1.136 2.809 2.47 2.55
0.04 0.21 0.42 0.1 0.00042 1.19 2.855 2.4 2.5
0.05 0.2 0.4 0.13 0.0004 1.25 2.865 2.29 2.4
0.07 0.18 0.36 0.19 0.00036 1.389 3 2.16 2.3
0.11 0.14 0.28 0.39 0.00028 1.786 3.708 2.08 2.1
0.12 0.13 0.26 0.46 0.00026 1.923 3.953 2.06 2.08
0.13 0.12 0.24 0.54 0.00024 2.083 4.18 2.01 2.07
0.14 0.11 0.22 0.64 0.00022 2.273 4.559 2.01 2.06
0.15 0.1 0.2 0.75 0.0002 2.5 5.043 2.02 2.05
0.16 0.09 0.18 0.89 0.00018 2.778 5.495 1.98 2.04
12 | P a g e H. Zamanian, B. Marzban, P. Bagheri, M. Gudarzi

The stress concentration factor with respect to the ratio by using of some different methods is depicted
in Figure 6.

3.00
K FEM

K foto elastic
k
k heywood
2.50
k howland

2.00
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
r/d

Fig. 6. Stress concentration factor for SMC-R65 lamina with circular hole using different methods

Figure 6 shows that the results from ABAQUS software are in good agreement with photo elastic diagram,
Heywood and Howland formulations. In the next part, the same procedure is utilized to simulate a SMC-R65
lamina with a square hole and a closed-form formula will be obtained for stress concentration around the
square hole.

3. STRESS CONCENTRATION AROUND THE SQUARE HOLE

In this part, we develop a closed-form formula for planar isotropic materials with square hole by fitting an
equation to stress concentration diagram. Randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina with square hole is
analyzed using the parameters given in Figure 7.

Fig. 7. Randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina with square hole

The SMC-R65 lamina with square hole is modelled with commercial FEM software and it is meshed as that
is shown in figure 8. Modelled plate length, width and thickness are equal to 1 m, 0.5 m and 1 mm,
respectively. The left side of the plate is simply supported and a uniform distributed force equal to 10000 N/m
is applied to the plate’s right side. In addition, 495 free triangular meshes are used for meshing the plate in the
FEM software.
 Journal of Science and Engineering Vol. 3 (1), 2013, 7-18 P a g e | 13

Fig. 8. The meshed SMC-R65 lamina with square hole

Strain and Von Misses stress distribution for SMC-R65 lamina under uniaxial loading with square hole are
given in Figures 9 and 10, respectively.

Fig. 9. Strain distribution of SMC-R65 lamina with square hole

Fig. 10. Von misses stress distribution of SMC-R65 lamina with square hole
14 | P a g e H. Zamanian, B. Marzban, P. Bagheri, M. Gudarzi

Figure 11depicts stress distribution along path A-A.

20000000

15000000

stress (Pa)
10000000

5000000

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
distance (m)

Fig. 11. Stress distribution along path A-A for plate with square hole

Table 4 shows the stress concentration factor around the square hole with respect to the distance from the
hole using FEM. Maximum stress has been extracted from ABAQUS software.

Table 4. Stress concentration factor of plate with square hole using ABAQUS software
a (m) (m) ( ) ( ) ( )
0.0125 0.238 0.053 0.000475 1.053 1.723 1.63628
0.025 0.225 0.056 0.00045 1.111 1.968 1.7712
0.05 0.2 0.125 0.0004 1.25 2.404 1.9232
0.075 0.175 0.214 0.00035 1.429 2.648 1.8536
0.1 0.15 0.333 0.0003 1.667 3.123 1.8738
0.125 0.125 0.5 0.00025 2 3.458 1.729
0.15 0.1 0.75 0.0002 2.5 4.031 1.6124
0.165 0.085 0.971 0.00017 2.941 4.381 1.48954

Before developing new formulation for the lamina with square hole, two nondimensional parameters
and ( ) are defined, in analogy with and ( ) in Howland and Heywood formulas.
The stress concentration factor for the lamina with square hole with respect to the ratios and
( ) is presented in Figures12 and 13, respectively.

2.5
FEM data

1.5
fitted 3th order
k

polynomial
1

0.5

0
0 0.5 1 1.5
a/d

Fig. 12. Stress concentration factor of SMC-R65 lamina with square hole with respect to the ratios
 Journal of Science and Engineering Vol. 3 (1), 2013, 7-18 P a g e | 15

2.5

2 FEM data

1.5

k 1
fitted 2nd
order
0.5 polynomial

0
0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1
1-2a/w

Fig. 13. Stress concentration factor of SMC-R65 lamina with square hole with respect to the ratios ( )

Now by fitting a 3th order polynomial curve to the stress concentration factor with respect to the
unknown constants of the assumed formulation can be calculated. In the same way, we can find the
unknown constants of the assumed formulation according to ( ) by considering Figure 13.
Finally, the development of stress concentration for randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina with
square hole according to and ( ) parameters will be as bellow

( ) ( ) ( ) (7)

( ) ( ) (8)

4. CONCLUSION

Present study showed that stress concentration factor of randomly oriented discontinuous fiber lamina
like SMC-R65 lamina depends on geometry of the hole and condition of the loading. In addition, this work
proved the reliability and accuracy of Heywood and Howland formulations and showed that, these
formulations can be developed for another hole shapes. An advantage of the obtained closed-form formula
for stress concentration factor of planar isotropic materials with square hole is accurate calculation of the
stress concentration without using of FEM and costly computation.

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 Journal of Science and Engineering Vol. 3 (1), 2013, 7-18 P a g e | 17

Appendix

A thin lamina containing randomly oriented discontinuous fibers exhibits planar isotropic behaviour. The
properties are ideally the same in all directions in the plane of the lamina. For such a lamina, the tensile
modulus and shear modulus can be calculated from [17]

(A.1)

(A.2)

where and are the longitudinal and transverse tensile moduli given as following for a unidirectional
discontinuous fiber lamina of the same fiber aspect ratio and same fiber volume fraction as the randomly
oriented discontinuous fiber composite [17],

( )
(A.3)

(A.4)

where and are mean lengths and mean diameters of fibers, respectively, and [17]

(A.5)
( ) ( )

(A.6)
( ) ( )

( )
(A.7)
( ) ( )

( )
(A.8)
( )

( )
(A.9)
( )
18 | P a g e H. Zamanian, B. Marzban, P. Bagheri, M. Gudarzi

In which, and are young modulus of the fibers and matrix, respectively, and and are density
of the fibers and matrix, respectively. The Poisson’s ratio in the plane of the lamina is [17]

(A.10)

Please cite this article as: H. Zamanian, B. Marzban, P. Bagheri, M. Gudarzi, (2013), On Stress Concentration Factor for Randomly Oriented Discontinuous
Fiber Laminas with Circular/Square Hole, Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 3(1), 7-18.