Damage analysis of thin-walled GLARE members under axial compression – Numerical and experiment investigations

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of the progressive damage and failure behaviour of thin-walled Glare – Fibre Metal Laminate (FML) short columns subjected to in-plane compressive loading. The study concerns 7-layered top-hat-shaped open cross-section members that consist of aluminium and angle-ply composite plies. The compression tests were conducted by means of an ultimate static testing strength machine with displacement control loading, whereas wall deflections were monitored by a Digital Image Correlation (DIC) system Aramis®. Laboratory procedures also included ultrasonic non-destructive testing to assess the quality of specimens produced by the autoclave technique. Failure tests were compared with FE simulations with the implementation of the progressive failure algorithm. Based on the material property degradation method (MPDG) and Hashin failure criterion, damage variables were used to control material stiffness reduction after damage initiation. Progressive failure assessment of top-hat members by FEM included an attempt to estimate the post-buckling equilibrium paths and failure loads that were found to be in a good agreement with experiment evidence. High consistency of numerical and experiment damage modes was also achieved.