A Plane-Stress Damage Model for Vectran Laminated Composite

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a plane-stress damage model based on the Classical Lamination Theory (CLT), developed for polymer fibre-based composite. The proposed numerical model utilises a damage mechanics methodology coupled with fracture mechanics to predict composite failure, particularly under quasi-static and dynamic loadings. In addition, the proposed constitutive equations consider a single secant modulus to describe its tensile and compressive modulus, as opposed to the physically-proposed tier models for polymer fibres which possesses a ‘skin–core’ structure. The result of single element and coupon-level modelling showed excellent correlation with the experimental results. It is expected that the proposed numerical model will be able to predict, up to a considerable accuracy, the response of the composite under low and high velocity impact loadings.