A Review on Cruciform Shaped FRP Composites Laminates under Biaxial Testing

The present paper focuses on presenting a review on the behavior of Fiber Reinforced Composites (FRP) with a cruciform geometry subjected to biaxial loading and the test systems developed for this. T he review includes the testing procedures, Specimen design and sensing techniques used for the measurement of stress and strains under biaxial loading. As FRP composites are anisotropic in nature, i.e. the mechanical strength of the material is directional dependent and the regular uniaxial tensile test could only determines the mechanical properties along the direction of load being applied. This test data may not be applicable to multidirectional stress condition and hence the biaxial behavior of these materials has to be studied. Generally the structures are subjected to biaxial loads and the effect of these loads has to be studied. In the case of biaxial loading failure of the laminates may occur much before than that is determined by conventional tensile testing methods. The aforesaid reasons have led the way to study the biaxial behaviour of FRP composites.