ABSTRACT
The effect of the thickness of the back ply group (i.e. the ply group furthest from the load) on the damage was examined for plates with [0n90(8-n) and [0(23-n)90/0n]T layups. By varying the parameter n, the number of plies in the back ply group was varied (as was the number of plies in the other ply groups), but the total number of plies in the plate was held fixed.
