Numerical modelling of multi-directional thin-ply carbon/glass hybrid composites with open holes under tension

Many researchers have used continuum damage mechanics for modelling damage in standard composites. This approach is intrinsically suitable for modelling the progress of damage modes spread over the specimen, which has been widely reported in pseudo-ductile hybrid composites. To the authors' best knowledge, this paper is the first numerical model based on continuum damage mechanics proposed for pseudo-ductile hybrid composites. The proposed constitutive model uses a thermodynamically consistent approach to compute the damage progression in the material. Experimental stress-strain curves and the failure pattern of carbon/glass hybrid lay-ups with gradual failure taken from the literature are compared against the numerical results to validate the model. The model provides a mesh-independent solution with a good prediction of the damage sequence and the overall stress-strain curves of the notched samples. A good correlation in size, location and type of damage mechanism was found between numerical and experimental results. This study indicates that the proposed model can provide a good prediction of the onset and propagation of the damage in notched hybrid composite laminates

A 3D transversally isotropic constitutive model for advanced composites implemented in a high performance computing code

A 3D constitutive damage model is proposed for predicting the progressive failure of laminated composite materials at mesoscopic length scale. The damage initiation and growth functions are based on the experimental phenomenology. The damage evolution laws are defined ensuring the energy regularization thanks to the crack band model. The crack closure effect under load reversal is also considered. The model is specifically formulated to be implemented in a high-performance computing platform, Alya, that enables the use of very fine meshes, ensuring an accurate prediction of the onset and propagation of damage. The reliability and the performance of the proposed formulation are examined simulating a cross-ply laminate and open hole tests under tensile loading.The first author would like to thank the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte) for the pre-doctoral grant FPU 15/06287. This works has been partially funded by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) under contracts TRA2015-71491-R, MAT2013-46749-R and MAT2015-69491-C3-1-R.Peer reviewe