This book first provides a systematic and thorough introduction to the classical laminate theory for composite materials based on the theory for plane elasticity elements and classical (shear-rigid) plate elements. The focus is on unidirectional lamina which can be described based on orthotropic constitutive equations and their composition to layered laminates. In addition to the elastic behavior, failure is investigated based on the maximum stress, maximum strain, Tsai-Hill, and the Tsai-Wu criteria.

The solution of the fundamental equations of the classical laminate theory is connected with extensive matrix operations, and many problems require in addition iteration loops. Thus, a classical hand calculation of related problems is extremely time consuming. In order to facilitate the application of the classical laminate theory, we decided to provide a Python-based computational tool, the so-called Composite Laminate Analysis Tool (CLAT) to easily solve some standard questions from the context of fiber-reinforced composites. The tool runs in any standard web browser and offers a user-friendly interface with many post-processing options. The functionality comprises stress and strain analysis of lamina and laminates, derivation of off-axis elastic properties of lamina, and the failure analysis based on different criteria.

Andreas Öchsner is Full Professor of Lightweight Design and Structural Simulation at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, Germany. After completing his Dipl.-Ing. degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart (1997), he served as Research and Teaching Assistant at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg from 1997 to 2003 while pursuing his Doctor of Engineering Sciences (Dr.-Ing.) degree. From 2003 to 2006, he was Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Head of the Cellular Metals Group affiliated with the University of Aveiro, Portugal. He spent seven years (2007-2013) as Full Professor at the Department of Applied Mechanics, Technical University of Malaysia, where he was also Head of the Advanced Materials and Structure Lab. From 2014 to 2017, he was Full Professor at the School of Engineering, Griffith University, Australia, and Leader of the Mechanical Engineering Program (Head of Discipline and Program Director).

Resam Makvandi is presently leading the computational department in the Acandis GmbH. He received his Ph.D. at the Institute of Mechanics, Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany. He completed his B.Sc. degree at the Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz Branch, Iran (2010), and his M.Eng. degree at the University of Technology, Malaysia (2013), both in Mechanical Engineering.