A multiscale modeling for failure predictions of fiber reinforced composite laminates

A three-dimensional multiscale damage modeling, based on the parametric High Fidelity Generalized Method of Cells (HFGMC) micromechanics and integrated with a finite-element (FE) code, is proposed to predict the mechanical response, including damage evolution, as well as to generate failure envelopes of composite laminates. A hexagonal repeating unit-cell (RUC) is used to represent explicitly the fiber and matrix phases of a lamina at the microscale level. Failure of a lamina is determined by using both strain-based and stress-based failure theories. This modeling approach is implemented as a user material subroutine (UMAT) within displacement-based Solid FE models, where each solid element is represented by one material point. When the modeled damage is propagating within the macroscale FE model, the material points are eliminated from the FE calculations by using the element deletion approach. The efficiency of the proposed multiscale modeling is demonstrated by a comparison of simulated results with measured data available in the literature.