Multicontinuum Failure Analysis of Composite Structural Laminates

Abstract

Damage in a composite typically begins at the constituent level and may, in fact, be limited to only one constituent in some situations. Accurate predictions of constituent damage at points in a laminate provide a genesis for progressively analyzing failure of a composite structure from start to finish. In this article we develop an efficient constituent-based failure analysis for composite structural laminates. Continuum-based (phase-averaged) constituent stress and strain fields are computed in a finite-element environment without a computational time penalty. Constituent stress-based failure criteria are developed and used to construct a progressive failure algorithm in which one constituent is allowed to fail while the other constituent remains intact, e.g., matrix cracking. The proposed failure algorithm was used to predict failure of a variety of laminates under uniaxial and biaxial loads. The results were shown to be superior to comparable single-continuum failure analyses and in good agreement with experimentally determined failure loads.