Abstract—A constitutive model of progressive matrix cracking in fiber reinforced laminates is developed for the case of both membrane and flexural deformation. The analytical progressive damage model addresses both the degraded mechanical properties of the laminate for given levels of matrix cracking in individual plies, and the damage growth under applied loading.
Crack densities in individual plies are the damage state variables of the model. This formulation is unlike the progressive damage models for composites implemented in most of the FEA packages, where softening laws are considered in order to describe stiffness reduction and damage evolution. By using the ply crack densities as state variables the model is able to predict and to keep track of the crack density in individual plies during the loading history, which can be of interest in application where the permeability (leakage) of the laminate is a limiting design factor. One example can be pressure vessels containing fluids or gases. Thermal residual stresses are taken into account in the present model, which extends the predictive capabilities of the model to applications in the range of cryogenic temperatures.
The analytical model is validated against available experimental data for the case of both membrane and flexural loading.
Index Terms—Composite material, matrix cracking, progressive damage.
A. Adumitroaie and M. Schagerl are with the Institute for Constructional Lightweight Design, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Structural Strength Control of Lightweight Constructions, Johannes Kepler University, 4040 Linz, Austria (e-mail: adi.adumitroaie@jku.at, martin.schagerl@jku.at).
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Cite: A．Adumitroaie, E. J. Barbero, and M. Schagerl, "Matrix Cracking in Non-symmetric Laminates under Combined Membrane and Flexural Loading," International Journal of Materials, Mechanics and Manufacturing vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 223-231, 2016.
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