A damage-mode based three dimensional constitutive model for fibre-reinforced composites

This article presents a three dimensional constitutive model for anisotropic damage to describe the elastic-brittle behavior of unidirectional fibre-reinforced laminated composites. The primary objective of the article focuses on the three dimensional relationship between damage of the material and the effective elastic properties for the purpose of stress analysis of composite structures, in extension to the two dimensional model in Matzenmiller, Lubliner and Taylor (1995). A homogenized continuum is adopted for the constitutive theory of anisotropic damage and elasticity. Damage initiation criteria are based on Puck failure criterion for first ply failure and progressive micro crack propagation is based on the idea of continuum damage evolution. Internal variables are introduced to describe the evolution of the damage state under loading and as a subsequence the degradation of the material stiffness. Emphasis is placed on a suitable coupling among the equations for the rates of the damage variables with respect to the different damage modes. Copyright © 2013 Tech Science Press.