Critical thrust force at delamination propagation during drilling of angle-ply laminates

A new formulation for the critical thrust force necessary to propagate the delamination generated during the drilling operation of an antisymmetric angle-ply laminate is proposed by modeling the delamination zone as an elliptical shape. The critical thrust force is analytically derived with the consideration of bending, twisting and mid-plane extension of the delamination zone. And then to maximize the critical thrust force, the optimal design of an angle-ply laminate is performed to find the optimal number of fiber per millimeter, optimum diameter of fiber and optimum lamination angle using ADS (Automated Design Synthesis).