Analysis of CFRP laminated plates with spatially varying non-Gaussian inhomogeneities using SFEM

A stochastic finite element based methodology is developed for the uncertainty quantification and reliability analysis of laminated CFRP plates with spatially varying non-Gaussian random inhomogeneities. The material and strength properties in the individual laminae are modeled as 2-D non-Gaussian random fields whose second order probabilistic characteristics are determined from test data. The 2-D random field discretization procedure adopted enables representing the fields through a vector of correlated random variables that preserve the second order non-Gaussian characteristics of the field. Expressions are developed that enable the construction of the stochastic stiffness matrices that are dependent on these correlated random variables. Subsequently, the response analysis and failure probability estimation is carried out using Monte Carlo simulations. Discussions on the salient features of the proposed methodology are highlighted based on a set of illustrative numerical examples.