Abstract
A peculiar phenomenon of in-plane fiber buckling has been observed in rubber beams reinforced with layers of parallel fibers when they are subjected to severe bending with a moment vector perpendicular to the fiber direction parallel to the width of the beam. The shape of the fibers on the inside of the bend, which appears to be independent of the boundary conditions, suggests fiber buckling under elastic support. It is shown here that this buckling phenomenon is unrelated to the case of buckling of an elastically supported rod under pure compression and can be explained only by taking into account the combined action of (a) the support each fiber experiences from fibers in adjacent layers (interlayer support) and (b) the support each fiber experiences from adjacent fibers in the same layer (interlayar support).
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