Micromechanical progressive damage analysis of inter- and intra-layer failures in fiber-reinforced composite laminates

Abstract

We analyze progressive damage and failure of composite laminates by using a micromechanical bridging model and compare numerical and experimental results for three fracture problems, namely, the four-point bending, the simple tension, and the simple tension of a laminate with an open hole at its centroid. These problems involve fiber–matrix interface debonding, constituents’ damage, interlayer delamination, and localized damage due to stress concentration. Macroscopic constitutive equations of unidirectional lamina, derived from those of the fiber and the matrix by using the bridging model with the fiber material assumed to be linearly elastic and the matrix to be elasto-plastic obeying the Drucker–Prager yield criterion, are employed. Strains in each constituent of the composite are assumed to be infinitesimal for the additive decomposition of strains into elastic and plastic parts to be valid, and the incremental plasticity theory is used. Stresses in the two constituents are found from their values in the homogenized material by using a dehomogenization technique. The intra-layer damage is assumed to initiate at a material point when the failure criterion for either the fiber or the matrix is satisfied. Young’s modulus of a constituent is degraded by following a Weibull distribution. A finite element is deleted when an energy-based failure criterion is satisfied in it, and the analysis is continued till the structure fails. The delamination between adjacent plies is simulated by including a thin resin layer at the interface and studying failure initiation and propagation in it. The computed reaction force versus the displacement curves and the failure patterns in the three problems are found to agree with the corresponding experimental data.