ABSTRACT
While an understanding of lamina mechanical behavior is essential to the development of theories for the analysis of composite structures, the unidirectional lamina alone is generally not very useful as a structural element because of its poor transverse properties. Composite structures are more likely to be in the form of laminates consisting of multiple laminae or plies oriented in the desired directions and bonded together in a structural unit. The virtually limitless combinations of ply materials, ply orientations, and ply-stacking sequences offered by laminated construction considerably enhance the design flexibility inherent in composite structures.
