Lamina Constitutive Equations

A single lamina is too thin to support the loads in all directions. It can only support
the tensile load along the fiber directions. Hence, the composite laminate or
structure consists of number of plies or lamina stacked together through an
adhesive to give the required thickness to withstand the load applied. The elastic
properties and the fiber orientation in the lamina are chosen to meet the design
requirements. The elastic properties of the laminate will depend on the combined
effect of all the lamina properties. At the microscopic level composite is
heterogeneous and anisotropic. However, at the macroscopic level one can treat
them to be homogenous. That is the properties do not vary from point to point.
Further, for evaluating the properties of the lamina it is convenient to consider a
unidirectional lamina with parallel continuous fibers.

Stiffness Coefficients for 3D composites

Consider an element with three-dimensional state of stress. The

stress at a point in the body can be described by nine stress
components ij (i,j =1,2,3) as shown in Fig. Correspondingly there
are nine components of strain ij (i,j = 1,2,3). The most general
stress-strain relationship at a point in an elastic material can be
written as

ij

Qijkl

kl

(3.1)

 Qijkl

is 9x9 matrix of stiffness or elastic coefficients having 81

constants. The first two subscripts correspond to the stresses

and the later two subscripts correspond to strains. Eq. (3.1)
represents a 3D anisotropic material. In the absence of body
forces, both stresses and strains are symmetric. Thus there are
only six independent stress components

In the absence of body forces, both stresses and strains are symmetric.
Thus there are only six independent stress components and six
independent strain components. This implies that the stiffness coefficients
must be symmetric with respect to first two subscripts and with respect to
last two subscripts. (i.e., Qijkl = Qjikl and Qijkl = Qijlk ). The number of
independent elastic constants reduces to 36. In view of this, the equation
can be written in a simplified form as

(3.2)

Further, most materials of some plane of symmetry exists with regard to

certain planes. The material properties do not change when the direction
of the axis perpendicular to this plane is reversed. Consider the plane 1-2
to be the plane of symmetry. The symmetry requires that the material
properties do not change under the coordinate transformation. This
reduces the number of independent stiffness coefficients from 21 to 13.
Such a material is termed as monoclinic material.

A 3D orthotropic material has three planes of symmetry. In figure

the123 orthogonal coordinate axes correspond to fiber
directions. They are referred to material axes. For such a
material, the stiffness coefficient matrix has 9 independent
material constants. The material is called specially orthotropic
material. The coefficient matrix is written as

Q11 Q12 Q13 0 0

Q12 Q22 Q23 0 0

Q13 Q23 Q33 0

(3.9)

0 Q44 0

Q55

0
0

Q66

0
0

If the properties are nearly same in any directions perpendicular to

the fibers (i.e the properties are same along directions 2 and 3, the
material is called transversely isotropic. For such a material

Q22 = Q33, Q12 = Q13 , Q55 = Q66

and that Q44 would not be independent of other stiffnesses. Thus
the stiffness matrix for a especially orthotropic, transversely
isotropic material is of the form

Q11 Q12 Q12

Q Q Q
12 22 23
Q12 Q23 Q22

0 ( Q22 Q23 ) / 2 0

Q66

0
0

0
0
0

(3.10)

0
0

Q66

where the 23 plane and all parallel planes are assumed to be planes
of isotropy. Thus we need five independent stiffness coefficients to
characterize the material.

Stiffness Coefficients for 2 D Composites

For a fiber reinforced lamina which is two dimensional in its

[
behavior (as the thickness of the lamina is very small compared to
the other two dimensions),
all the terms associated with axis 3,
]
may be dropped to simplify the [ Q ] matrix as
Q11 Q12 0
[Q] =

Q
Q
0
12 22

0
0 Q66

(3.12)

Thus there are four independent stiffness coefficients to be

evaluated to characterize an orthotropic lamina completely.
The constitutive relation for such a lamina in terms of the
stiffness coefficient can be written as

1 Q11 Q12

2 Q12 Q22

12 0 0

0
0

Q
66

12

(3.13)

The constitutive relation given by above, relates stress to strain. In

many situations we may need to express stresses in terms of
strains. Thus, the inverse form of equation (3.13) is written as
1

2

12

S11 S12 0

S12 S22 0
0 0 S66

12

(3.14)

Relations between Stiffness Coefficients and Engineering

Constants

The composite is a man made material. Therefore, these need to be

characterized before being used for structural members. The relations
mentioned in the earlier section are valid for several important classes of
materials. When a material is characterized experimentally, we get the data on
elastic modulus, Poissons ratio; shear modulus, which at macro level will be a
function of fiber volume fraction in the case of composites. The engineering
constants are largely used in analysis and design as they relate simple states
of stress to state of strain. It is possible to find relations between stiffness
coefficient and engineering constants though it is not a simple one. Generally,
it is convenient to work with stiffness coefficients for the purposes of analysis.
For design, one needs to know the actual values of the material properties

Specially orthotropic lamina

Consider an especially orthotropic lamina as shown in the figure. with the material axes
L,T coinciding with the direction of fibers and normal to the fibers. The L axis is along the
longitudinal direction and the T axis coinciding with the transverse direction. We define
the elastic modulus along the L and T directions as EL and ET respectively, the in-plane
shear modulus GLT, the major Poissons ratio LT and minor Poissons ratio TL. The major
Poissons ratio LT (ratio of lateral strain to longitudinal strain) is due to the longitudinal
stress. While the minor Poissons ratio TL (ratio of longitudinal strain to lateral strain)
caused by the transverse stress. We assume that the deformations are small and all the
fibers are intact during the application of the stress. As a consequence the stress-strain
relation is linear. We can therefore, one stress at a time and find the corresponding
strains. We can then add up all the strains due to the application of all the possible inplane stresses.

Case 1. Only L is the non zero stress (T = LT = 0)

The strains developed due to this stress are L, T with LT = 0
L

L
L
,

, LT 0
=
T
LT L
LT
EL
EL

(3.15)

Case 2. Only T is non zero stress (L = 0, LT = 0)

The strains developed due to this stress are T, L and LT = 0.

, L TL T TL T , LT 0
ET
ET

(3.16)

Case 3. Only LT is the non zero stress (L= T = 0)

The strain produced by this stress is LT with L= T = 0

(3.17)

Superposition of all the three cases gives, the state of strains

developed due to the application of all the possible in plane stresses.
Combining, all the three equations (3.15, 3.16, 3.17) gives the
following three relations:

L L TL T
EL
ET

LT L
ET
EL
LT

(3.18)

LT
GLT

These are the stress-strain relations for an especially orthotropic lamina.

The above equations appears to have five independent material constants,
It will be shown subsequently that there exist only four independent
engineering constants.

In terms of stiffness co-efficients, the constitutive equations can be written as

Q11Q22 Q122
L
EL =
=
L
Q22

(3.23a)

LT = T Q12
L
Q22

(3.23b)

T
Q11Q22 Q122
ET

T
Q11

(3.23c)

Q
TL = L 12
T Q11

(3.23d)

G LT = LT Q66
LT

(3.23e)

Making use of the above relations, it is possible to obtain the

relations between the individual stiffness coefficients Qij in terms of
EL, ET, GLT, LT and TL. These are

EL
Q11
,
1- TL LT
Q12

ET
Q22
1- TL LT

TL EL
E
LT T
1- TL LT 1- LT TL

(3.24)

Q66 GLT

Since Q12 is same irrespective of which relation is used, it is

observed that there are only four independent elastic constants to
define the material. The fifth constant is constrained by the relation
LT E
TL E
=
T
L

(3.25)

The elastic constants derived in this section are valid when the
reinforcement is continuous and along the X axes only. If
however, the fibers are along the Y-axis, E L and E T
gets interchanged
A special class of lamina in which the fiber reinforcement is woven
or along 0 and 90 is termed as balanced orthotropic lamina. For
this case the number of independent elastic constants reduces to 3
because of symmetry of the properties with respect to L and T axes.
Therefore, for a balanced lamina, we have

E L = E T, S

11

=S

22

and Q 11= Q 22.

This is true provided the volume fraction of the fiber along both the
directions is same.

Constitutive Relations for Generally Orthotropic Lamina

For structural components, which are expected to carry out of plane loads, several
laminae have to be stacked together to get the required stiffness. This is obtained by
stacking several unidirectional laminae with specified sequence of fiber orientation. It is,
therefore necessary to obtain the constitutive equations for an off-axis lamina. That is
the principal directions of the lamina do not coincide with the reference axes or the
structural axes. Such a lamina is generally referred as Generally orthotropic lamina. It is
seen that for such a lamina the constitutive relations, in addition to the fiber orientation
the number of independent material constants are still the same which have been
obtained in terms of the principal material coordinates.

The sign convention for the fiber orientation angle, , is shown in

figure. The fiber orientation is positive when the axis is rotated in
the anti clockwise direction from the reference axis to the material
axis (principal axis). The stress/strain relationships are found by
making use of the strain and stress transformations from the
material axes (L-T) to reference axes (X-Y). In many books the
material axes is also called 1-2 axes. The direction 1 is parallel to
the fibers and the direction 2 transverse to the fibers. Relations for
the transformation of stresses and strains from L-T coordinate
system to X-Y coordinate or vice-versa can be by writing the
equations of static equilibrium for the differential element shown in
figure.

Transformation of stresses
Considering the equilibrium of all the forces along L direction, we get

2
2
= ( L - x cos ysin 2 xy sin cos ) dA 0

(3.27)

Since dA is 0, the quantity inside the bracket should be zero for satisfaction
of the equation. Hence,

L x cos 2 ysin 2 2 xy sin cos

(3.28 a)

Similarly by summing up all the forces in direction T gives

LT x sin cos + y sin cos xy (cos 2 sin 2 )

(3.28 b)

Similarly by making a cut at an angle normal to direction T,

T x sin 2 y cos 2 2 xy sin cos

(3.28 c)

The equations (3.28a) to (3.28 c) can be rewritten in a matrix form as

cos 2
sin 2
2sin cos x
L

2
2

sin

cos

2sin

cos

y

sin cos sin cos cos 2 sin 2
LT

xy
The 33 matrix in (3.29) which relates the stresses in the
coordinate system to X-Y coordinate system is called
Transformation Matrix [T]. Inverting this square matrix,
obtain the stresses in X-Y coordinate system in terms of
coordinates. [T]-1 is written as

cos 2

sin 2

sin 2
cos 2
sin cos sin cos

(3.29)

L-T
the
we
L-T

2sin cos

2sin cos
cos 2 sin 2

(3.30)

Thus the stresses in reference coordinate X-Y are related to L-T coordinate are

x
cos 2
sin 2
2sin cos L

2
2

sin

cos

2sin

cos

T

sin cos sin cos cos 2 sin 2

xy

LT

(3.31)

Transformation of strains
Transforming the strains in terms of L-T coordinates, we get

L x cos 2 y sin 2 xy sin cos

T x sin 2 y cos 2 xy sin cos

(3.32)

LT 2 x sin cos 2 y sin cos xy (cos 2 sin 2 )

In matrix form equations (3.32) are written as

/ 2

LT

2 cos sin x

sin 2
cos 2
2sin cos y
sin cos sin cos (cos 2 sin 2 ) xy / 2

cos 2

sin 2

(3.33)

It is observed that 3 x 3 matrix in equation (3.33) is the same matrix

given in equation (3.29), inverting equation (3.33) gives

cos 2

/
2

xy

sin 2
cos 2
2sin cos T

sin cos sin cos cos 2 sin 2 LT / 2

sin 2

2sin cos

(3.34)

It can be verified that [T] [T]-1 is a unit matrix. In most of the

engineering applications what is needed is the relation between
stresses and engineering strains referred with respect to the
reference coordinates (X-Y).

Transformed stiffness coefficients

We are interested in finding the relation between stresses and
engineering strains with respect to the reference coordinate. This is
represented as

x
Q11 Q12 Q16

Q
Q
Q
y
12 22 26

Q Q Q

16 26 66
xy

x
y

xy

(3.35)

The co-efficients of the transformed stiffness matrix is given as

Q11 Q11 cos 4 Q22 sin 4 2(Q12 2Q66 ) sin 2 cos 2
Q22 Q11 sin 4 Q22 cos 4 2(Q12 2Q66 ) sin 2 cos 2
Q12 (Q11 Q22 4Q66 ) cos 2 sin 2 Q12 (cos 4 sin 4 )

(3.43)

Q66 (Q11 Q22 2Q12 2Q66 ) cos 2 sin 2 Q66 (cos 4 sin 4 )
Q16 (Q12 -Q 22 2Q66 ) cos3 sin (Q22 Q12 2Q66 ) sin 3 cos
Q26 (Q12 -Q22 2Q66 ) cos sin 3 (Q22 Q12 2Q66 ) sin cos 3

This it can be seen that the transformed stiffness matrix consists of six
coefficients. They are functions of Q11 , Q12 , Q22 , Q66 and fiber orientation.
Further, in the X-Y coordinate system the lamina with fiber orientation
other than and exhibit coupling between normal stress and shear
strain and between shear stress and normal strain. This implies that if
an angle ply is subjected to a uniform load along X direction it will not
only have uniform strain along X direction but also give rise to shear
strain and vice versa.

The inverse form of the relation is written as

x
S11 S12 S16

S
S
S
y
12 22 26

S S S

16 26 66
xy

xy

(3.44)

where Sij are the elements of transformed reduced compliance

coefficient matrix. These are expressed as:
S11 S11 cos 4 S22 sin 4 (2 S12 S66 ) sin 2 cos 2
S 22 S11 sin 4 S22 cos 4 (2S12 S66 ) sin 2 cos 2
S12 ( S12 S22 S66 ) cos sin S12 (cos sin )
2

(3.45)

S66 2(2 S11 2 S22 4 S12 S66 ) cos 2 sin 2 S66 (cos 4 sin 4 )
S16 (2 S11 -2S12 S66 ) cos3 sin (2 S22 2 S12 S66 ) sin 3 cos
S 26 (2S11 -2S12 S66 ) cos sin 3 (2S 22 2 S12 S66 ) sin cos 3

It is observed that the transformation is similar but the coefficients are not the same.

Invariant form of stiffness and compliance coefficients

Eqs. (3.43) and (3.45) give the transformed stiffness and compliance matrix
coefficients. As can be seen, theses are functions of higher powers of cosine
and sine functions of fiber orientation. It is not easy to visualize how the
individual terms change with a change in fiber orientation , consequently their
contribution to the over all stiffness. In addition, the laminae are stacked
together to form a laminate. The overall stiffness of the laminate is obtained by
integrating the lamina stiffnesses over the laminate thickness. The integration of
such terms becomes rather difficult. To overcome this difficulty Tsai and
Pagano proposed a convenient invariant form of stiffness transformation
equations. They showed that that Eqs. (3.43) and (3.45) can be rewritten as
follows:
Q11 U1 U 2 cos 2 U 3 cos 4
Q22 =U1 U 2 cos 2 U 3 cos 4
Q12 U 4 U 3 cos 4
(U1 U 4 )
U 3 cos 4
2
U
Q16 2 sin 2 U 3 sin 4
2
U
Q26 2 sin 2 U 3 sin 4
2
Q66

S11 V1 V2 cos 2 V3 cos 4

S 22 =V1 V2 cos 2 V3 cos 4
S12 V4 V3 cos 4
S66 2(V1 V4 ) 4V3 cos 4
S16 V2 sin 2 2V3 sin 4
S 26 V2 sin 2 2V3 sin 4
U1 =

1
[3Q11+3Q22+2Q12+4Q66]
8

U2 =

1
[Q11-Q22]
2

1 [Q11+Q22-2Q12-4Q66]
U3 =
8
1
[Q11+Q22+6Q12-4Q66]
U4 =
8

V1 =

1
[3S11+3S22+2S12+S66]
8

V2 =

1
[S11-S22]
2

V3 =

1 [S +S -2S -S ]
11
22
12
66
8

V4 =

1
[S11+S22+6S12-S66]
8

One can derive similar relations by using trigonometric relations. This

expression is useful when examining the consequences of changing
lamina orientation to obtain certain stiffness requirements. This
representation of much importance while designing laminates, to meet
certain load requirements.

Transformed Engineering Constants

The lamina or ply engineering constants, EL, ET, GLT, and LT in the
L-T coordinate (material axes) system can also be transformed into
X-Y (reference axes) coordinate system. Equation (3.18) gives the
constitutive equation for the lamina in terms of engineering
constants referred to the L-T axes. In many situations we need this
transformation.
Consider a thin lamina with fibers oriented at an angle to the X-Y
axes as shown in the figure Let us further assume that only the
axial stress x is acting on the lamina. The normal and shear
stresses acting along L-T direction can be obtained as b y making
use of equation (3.29). These are

L x cos 2
T x sin 2
LT x sin cos

(3.46)

Substituting for L, T and LT in the constitutive equation, (3.18) we get

cos 2
sin 2
L x (
TL
)
EL
ET
sin 2
cos 2
T x (
LT
)
ET
EL

LT x

(3.47)

sin cos
GLT

Substituting these in the strain transformation equation (3.34) we get

cos 4 sin 4 1 1 2 LT

x x

)sin 2 2
ET
4 ELT EL
EL

(3.48)

LT 1 1
2 LT
1
1
2
y x
(

) sin 2
EL
EL 4 EL ET GLT

1
1
1 2
1
1
xy x LT

( LT

)cos 2 sin 2
EL
EL
ET GLT
EL ET 2GLT

Defining

Ex x (Elastic modulus along X direction)

x

the first relation from equation (3.48) gives

2
1 cos 4 sin 4 1 1

(
LT ) sin 2 2
Ex
EL
ET
4 GLT EL

(3.49)

The Poissons ratio xy is defined as the strain produced in Y direction as a

consequence of applied stress in X direction only. Which is

xy = x

Substituting for x and y from equation (3.48) we get

LT 1 1

1 2 LT
1
2
xy

sin 2 EX
E
4
E
E
E
G
T
L
LT
L
L

(3.50)

From the third relation of equation (3.48) it is observed that the

normal stress x gives rise to shear strain xy. The presence of
shear strain indicates the shear coupling. The amount of shear
coupling is obtained by defining shear coupling coefficient or
mutual influence coefficient or shear coupling coefficient. We
define a cross coefficient, x that relates the shearing strain to the
normal stress x in the following manner.
x =

EL xy

(3.51)

Comparison with the third relation of equation (3.48) gives

x [ LT

EL
EL
E
E

cos 2 (1 2 LT L L )]sin 2
ET 2GLT
ET GLT

(3.52)

If we now consider the loading such that x = xy = 0 with y 0 we get

from equation (3.29)

L y sin 2
T y cos 2

(3.53)

LT y sin cos
Making use of Eq. (3.53), the strains in L and T directions are obtained
from Eq.(3.18) as
sin 2
cos 2
L y (
TL
)
EL
ET
cos 2
sin 2
T y (
LT
)
ET
EL

LT y

sin cos
GLT

(3.54)

The strains in X and Y directions are obtained from Eq. (3.34) as

2
1 1
1
1
x y [ TL (
LT
) sin 2 2 ]
ET 4 EL ET
EL GLT
2
sin 4 cos 4 1 1
y y[

(
LT ) sin 2 2 ]
EL
ET
4 GLT
EL

xy y [

(3.55)

LT 1
1
1
1

sin 2 (1 2 LT

)
EL ET GLT
ET GLT

One can now obtain Ey from the second relation of Eq. (3.55) as
2
1 sin 4 cos 4 1 1

(
LT ) sin 2 2
Ey
EL
ET
4 GLT
EL

(3.56)

Eq.(3.56) can also be obtained by replacing by 90 in Eq.(3.49).

The Poissons ratio yx is obtained from the first relation of Eq. (3.55).

2
1 1
1
1
yx [ TL (

LT ) sin 2 2 ] Ey
E T 4 EL ET GLT
EL

(3.57)

We define a cross coefficient y that relates the shearing strain to normal

stress y as

EL xy

(3.58)

Making use of third relation of Eq. (3.55), we get

y [ LT

EL
E
E
E
L (1 2 LT L L )]sin 2
ET 2GLT
ET GLT

(3.59)

We now consider that only xy 0, x = 0 and y = 0. From Eq. (3.29), we have

L 2 xy sin cos
T 2 xy sin cos

(3.60)

LT xy ( cos 2 sin 2 )
We once again substitute for L, T and LT from Eq.(3.60) into Eq. (3.18).The
strains L, T and LT are given as

L 2 xy (

1 TL

) sin cos
EL ET

T 2 xy (
LT

1 LT

)sin cos
ET EL

1
xy (cos 2 sin 2 )
GLT

(3.61)

The relation for shear strain xy is given by

xy 4 xy sin 2 cos 2 (
(

1 TL
) 4 xy sin 2 cos 2
EL ET

1 LT
1

) xy
(cos 2 sin 2 ) 2
ET EL
GLT
1

= xy [( E E ELT ) sin2 2 +
cos2 2 ]
GLT
L
T
L
= xy [( 1 1 2 LT ) ( 1 1 2 LT - 1 ) cos2 2 ]
EL ET
EL
EL ET
EL
GLT
Therefore,
1
Gxy

= [(

1
1 2 LT

EL ET
EL

2 LT

) ( E E E
L
T
L

1
) cos2 2]
GLT

(3.62)

As stated earlier, xy gives rise to normal strains x and y along X and Y

directions. These can be obtained from the first two relations of Eq.
(3.34). As the reciprocal relation exist, these can be written as

xy
EL

y y xy
EL
x x

(3.63)

x and y are given by Eqs. (3.52) and (3.59) respectively.

The superposition of all these loadings results in the following equation.

x

y

xy

1
Ex

yx

Ey

xy
Ex

1
Ey

y
x
E E
L
L

x

EL

y

EL

1
Gxy

x
y

xy

(3.64)

Eq.(3.64) is the constitutive relation for a lamina in the X-Y

coordinate system, the fibers are oriented at and angle to the X-Y
axes. It is observed from Eq. (3.64) Ex, Ey, Gxy, xy, x and y is
complicated function of EL, ET, GLT, LT and fiber orientation.
Further, from the symmetry of the compliance matrix

yx xy

Ey Ex

(3.65)

Gxy

Numerical Examples
1.0

(a)

A tensile specimen of unidirectional composite with a rectangular cross

section of dimensions 12.5 mm x 4 mm has the fibers oriented at 450 to
a longitudinal edge of the specimen. It is subjected to an axial load of
500 N.
Calculate the normal strains in the axial and perpendicular directions
and the shear strain on the specimen. The properties of the composite
in the L-T directions are: EL= 14 GPa, ET= 3.5 GPa, GLT= 4.2 GPa and

(b)

= 0.4.

Calculate the off axis modulus, the Poisson`s ratio, and cross coupling
coefficient for the specimen..

2.

Longitudinal axis of the orthotropic lamina makes an angle of 450 with the
x axis. It is subjected to the following stresses.

x 20MPa, y 0, xy 20MPa
Calculate the stresses along the longitudinal and transverse direction.

3.

Two laminae are joined together as shown in Figure. Both are

unidirectional lamina- fibers of one inclined at 00 and the other 450 to the
loading axis. How is the specimen going to deform in the transverse
direction. The material properties of both the lamina are same and are
given as:
EL= 145 GPa, ET = 10.45 GPa, GLT= 6.9 GPa and LT 0.28

Solution:
We know that

LT TL

EL ET

Therefore

TL 0.28

10.45
0.02
145

For the constitutive equation, for the left lamina

L(1)

x
EL
145

 y( 2 ) T(1)

LT
0.28
x
x 1.93 10 3 x
EL
145

In this present case the material axis and the loading axis are coincident.
For the 450 lamina (2), we get
1
m2
n2 2
m2n2
2
2
2

(m n LT )
(n m TL )
Ex EL
ET
G LT
m = cos 450 = 0.707

n = sin 450 = 0.707

Substituting the values, we get, E x 16.42 GPa

Similarly we can get

xy 0.189

Therefore, for lamina (2), we have

( 2)
y

xy
Ex

0.189
x 0.115 x 11.5 10 3 x
16.42

Example

Deformed Shape