Elastic–Plastic Stress Analysis and Plastic Region Expansion of Clamped Aluminum Metal–Matrix Laminated Plates with an Elliptical Hole

In this study, an elastic–plastic analysis and expansion of plastic region are carried out on symmetric and antisymmetric metal–matrix laminated plates with an elliptical hole. The plates are assumed to be clamped and subjected to transversely distributed loads. Loading is gradually increased from the yield point of the plate by 0.0001 MPa at each load step. Load step numbers are chosen as 300, 400, and 500. Residual stress components and the propagation of the plastic region are obtained for small deformations on the upper and lower surface using finite element method (FEM) and including first-order shear deformation theory.