Modelling damage in fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite laminates subjected to three-point-bend loading

Liu, Haibao; Liu, Jun; Ding, Yuzhe; Zhou, Jin; Kong, Xiangshao; Harper, Lee T.; Blackman, Bamber R.K.; Falzon, Brian G.; Dear, John P.

Abstract

It is important to account for nonlinearity in the deformation of a thermoplastic matrix, as well as fibre fracture and matrix cracking, when predicting progressive failure in unidirectional fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites. In this research, a high fidelity damage model is developed incorporating elastic-plastic non-linearity. In order to validate the model, three-point bend experiments were performed on composite specimens, with a lay-up of [03/903]2s, to provide experimental results for comparison. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was employed to record the strain distribution in the composite specimens. The developed intralaminar damage model, which is implemented as a user defined material (VUMAT in Abaqus/Explicit) subroutine, is then combined with a cohesive surface model to simulate three-point bend failure processes. The simulation results, including the load-displacement curves and damage morphology, are compared with the corresponding experimental results to assess the predictive capability of the developed model. Good agreement is achieved between the experimental and numerical results.

Citation

Liu, H., Liu, J., Ding, Y., Zhou, J., Kong, X., Harper, L. T., …Dear, J. P. (2020). Modelling damage in fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite laminates subjected to three-point-bend loading. Composite Structures, 236, Article 111889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.111889

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 6, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jan 9, 2020
• Publication Date: Mar 15, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 10, 2021
• Journal: Composite Structures
• Print ISSN: 0263-8223
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-1085
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 236
• Article Number: 111889
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.111889
• Keywords: Civil and Structural Engineering; Ceramics and Composites
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3766841
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026382231934190X