Damage Model for Composites Defined in Terms of Available Data

Abstract

A model to predict stiffness reduction and stress redistribution due to damage of laminated polymer composites is presented. The material properties required by the model are limited to those already available for unidirectional composites. Classical lamination theory is generalized for the case of a continuously damaging material using concepts from continuous damage mechanics. The Tsai-Wu failure criteria can be recovered as a limiting case. The damage model is validated with experimental results for various laminates built with aramid/epoxy, T300/5208, and T300/914 carbon/epoxy.