Vol. 1, No. 6, 2006

Download this article
Download this article For screen
For printing
Recent Issues

Volume 19
Issue 5, 747–835
Issue 4, 541–746
Issue 3, 303–540
Issue 2, 157–302
Issue 1, 1–156

Volume 18, 5 issues

Volume 17, 5 issues

Volume 16, 5 issues

Volume 15, 5 issues

Volume 14, 5 issues

Volume 13, 5 issues

Volume 12, 5 issues

Volume 11, 5 issues

Volume 10, 5 issues

Volume 9, 5 issues

Volume 8, 8 issues

Volume 7, 10 issues

Volume 6, 9 issues

Volume 5, 6 issues

Volume 4, 10 issues

Volume 3, 10 issues

Volume 2, 10 issues

Volume 1, 8 issues

The Journal
About the journal
Ethics and policies
Peer-review process
 
Submission guidelines
Submission form
Editorial board
 
Subscriptions
 
ISSN 1559-3959 (online)
ISSN 1559-3959 (print)
 
Author index
To appear
 
Other MSP journals
A macroscopic model for kink banding instabilities in fiber composites

Shiladitya Basu, Anthony M. Waas and Damodar R. Ambur

Vol. 1 (2006), No. 6, 979–1000
Abstract

In this paper, a mechanism-based lamina level modeling approach is used as the basis for developing a macroscopic (lamina level) model to capture the mechanisms of kink banding. Laminae are modeled as inelastic degrading homogenized layers in a state of plane stress according to Schapery Theory (ST). However, the principal orthotropic material axes are allowed to rotate as a function of deformation. In ST, each lamina degrades as characterized through laboratory scale experiments. In the fiber direction, elastic behavior prevails; however, in this work, the phenomenon of fiber microbuckling leading to kink banding, which is responsible for the sudden degradation of the axial lamina properties under compression, is explicitly accounted for by allowing the fiber rotation at a material point to be a variable in the problem. These features are built into a user-defined material subroutine that is implemented through the commercial finite element (FE) software ABAQUS. Thus, in this model we eschew the notion of a fixed compressive strength of a lamina and instead use the mechanics of the failure process to provide the in situ compression strength of a material point in a lamina, the latter being dictated strongly by the current local stress state, the current state of the lamina transverse material properties, and the local fiber rotation. The inputs to this model are laboratory scale, coupon level test data (at the lamina level) that provide information on the lamina transverse property degradation (that is, appropriate, measured, strain-stress relations of the lamina transverse properties), the elastic lamina orthotropic properties and the geometry of the lamina. The validity of the approach advocated is demonstrated through numerical simulations of unidirectional lamina with initial fiber imperfections. The predictions of the simulations reported in this paper are compared against previously reported results from micromechanical analyses. Good agreement between the present macroscopic modeling approach and the previous micromechanical observations are reported.

Keywords
fiber kinking, fiber rotation, matrix damage, progressive failure analysis, compressive response
Milestones
Received: 8 December 2005
Accepted: 5 March 2006
Published: 1 October 2006
Authors
Shiladitya Basu
Technical Professional–Marine
Granherne Inc.
601 Jefferson Ave.
Houston, TX 77054
United States
Anthony M. Waas
Composite Structures Laboratory
Aerospace Engineering Department
University of Michigan
1320 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States
Damodar R. Ambur
Structures Division
NASA Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, OH 44135
United States