Luiz F. Kawashita1, Alexandre Bedos2, Stephen R. Hallett3
CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.32, No.2, pp. 133-158, 2012, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2012.032.133
Abstract A methodology is proposed for modelling transverse matrix cracks in laminated composites in a three-dimensional explicit finite element analysis framework. The method is based on the introduction of extra degrees of freedom to represent the displacement discontinuity and the use of a cohesive zone model to determine damage evolution and crack propagation. The model is designed for the analysis of matrix cracks in laminates made of uni-directional fibre-reinforced plies, allowing several assumptions to be made which greatly simplify the algorithm. This was implemented in the commercial software Abaqus/Explicit as a user-defined element subroutine (VUEL). The More >