Computational analysis of damage in hybrid composite structure

Abstract

This paper is based on research of a new type of composite material. A novel type of hybrid cell composite structure has been developed and used for many practical applications. Typical macroscopic sub-cells in the material’s cross section are formed by the stamping process of partially cured and axially oriented high modulus carbon fibre bundles wrapped by a thin layer of high strength fibres.The static strength of the cell structure’s building parts was measured in longitudinal and transverse directions and in shear loading. Bending behaviour was measured in four-point bending.Modified Non-uniform Transformation Field Analysis (NTFA) was proposed for the non-linear material characterised by a brittle failure. This modification is based on introducing damage modes instead of plastic modes. Damage modes have been chosen in composite specific material directions. A new model of the evolution of damage in every damage mode was proposed. We also propose a new solution scheme, consisting of the used damage modes and their specific behaviour (i.e. ultimate failure, and a combination of different degradation mechanisms). The modified NTFA method was incorporated into FEM code and verified in several four-point bending tests.