Composites Science and Technology 43 (1992) 257-267

Damage modelling of the elementary ply

for laminated composites
P. Ladeveze & E. Le Dantec*
Laboratoire de M~canique et Technologie, Ecole Nationale Sup&ieure de Cachan/CNRS/Universit~ Paris 6, 61, av. du
President Wilson, 94235 Cachan Cedex, France

(Received 14 August 1990; revised version received 21 December 1990; accepted 17 January 1991)

In this paper, fibrous composite laminate damage is modelled at the

elementary-ply scale. Damage mechanics is used to describe the matrix
microcracking and fibre/matrix debonding. Damage variables are defined and
associated with the material stiffness reduction. In order to take anelastic
strains induced by damage into account, a plasticity model is built up. The
behaviour differences between tension and compression in the fiber direction
are treated. The model leads to a laminate failure criterion. The model-
identification procedure is precisely detailed. It consists in performing three
tension tests and one compression test on a laminate whose reinforcement
directions are conveniently chosen. Some examples are developed in order to
show the ability of such a model to describe ply behaviour effects on the
mechanical and rupture behaviour of laminates.

Keywords: damage, laminates, material behaviour, structural mechanics

1 INTRODUCTION In this paper, we propose a model of the

Today, the use of fibrous composite laminates in
aeronautical and space structure constructions is
essential. Knowledge of their behaviour as far as
complete rupture and the construction of reliable
tools of analysis and prediction are necessary in
order to optimize the use of such materials.
Composite-structure design is generally based
on empirical failure criteria, such as the Hill or
Tsai criteria. 1 These criteria are constructed on
homogeneous-solid-mechanics hypotheses and
are not always sufficient to represent the complex
phenomena that occur in composite materials,
especially the internal-degradation process that
plays a great part in the rupture behaviour. It is
accepted that there exist three laminate-damage
modes in addition to delamination: (i) matrix
microcracking, (ii) fibre/matrix debonding, and
(iii) fiber brittle rupture. 2,3
* Present address: SociEte Bertin & Cie, ZI des G~tines,
BP 3, 78370 Plaisir Cedex, France.
Composites Science and Technology 0266-3538/91/$03.50
© 1991 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd.
257
mechanical behaviour of an elementary ply of a
fibrous-composite laminate. Continuum damage
mechanics theory is used to describe matrix
microcracking and fibre/matrix debonding. By
reconstruction of the laminate's mechanical
behaviour, we can predict the rupture of any
composite structure under complex loadings. The
present model completes previous work *-8 and
can be considered definitive. 9 It is described and
identified for two materials: T300/914 and
IM6/914 carbon-fibre-reinforced epoxy compos-
ites. Furthermore, the model predictions are
compared with tension tests on several laminate-
stacking sequences, for which the elementary ply
is subjected to different loadings. Comparisons
are very satisfactory for quasi-static cases. It
should be noted that the model takes the
differences between tension and compression in
the fibre direction into account. An important
restriction is that we consider only cases with
minor delamination effects. The aim of the
present paper is not to be too insistent on the
theoretical and physical foundations of the
model 1°-12 but to describe it and to show its
258 P. Ladeveze, E. Le Dantec
capacity for predicting the degradation of Conjugate quantities Ya and Yw are associated
composite laminates by developing some with damage variables d and d' for dissipation.
examples. They are defined by:
0~ 0E D 1 0.22
2 THEORETICAL MODELLING OF THE Yd = fl - - ~ 6,d' = Od ,.a, - 2 G~°g(1 - d) 2
ELEMENTARY PLY 8~p ~,,d c3ED,,d 1 (o=) 2 (3)
Y,,,=
P~ c~d' - 2 E°(1 - d') 2
We assume a plane-stress state, and thus only the
plane part of strains is taken into account. In where ,p is the free-energy density and
what follows, subscripts 1 and 2 designate, 0.11
respectively, the fibre direction and the trans-
verse direction (Fig. 1). #= ~ + (022)- is the effective stress.
.," 3 2
V 2 0.12
(1 - d )
Associated forces Yd and Yd, are analogous to
Fig. 1. Elementary ply. energy-release rates, and they govern damage
development, just as the energy-release rate
2.1 Damage kinematics of the elementary ply governs crack propagation.
The model distinguishes two ply-degradation
The damaged-material strain energy is written in mechanisms that contribute to damage develop-
the following form: ment: (i) matrix microcracking and (ii)
fibre/matrix debonding. After the experimental
I [ O'21 2V°l ( 0"22)2+
results, two quantities are introduced in order to
ED = 7, L~O E o 0"1'0"22+EO(l_d, )
describe this development:
(0"22) 2 0"22 ] Y(t) = sup,_~t(V'Yd(~') + bra,(r)) (4)
+ +ZG%0 L d)J O)
y'(t) = sup,~_,(V--Y-~a,(~)) (5)
with
The damage-development laws are then very
(a)+=a ifa~0; otherwise ( a ) + = 0 simple and are written as follows:
(a)_=a if a - 0 ; otherwise(a)_=0
(r- Y0)+
d-
where d and d' are scalar-damage variables that re
remain constant throughout the ply thickness. if d < 1 andy'<Ys'; otherwised=1 (6)
We note that it is equivalent to taking the
transverse modulus and the shear modulus as d r _
(Y-Y;)+
new internal variables. If the transverse micro-
cracks are loaded in compression, they close up ifd'<1 andy'<Y'; otherwised'=l (7)
and then have no effect on the transverse-
direction behaviour. This explains splitting up the Two damage mechanisms are present, and the
transverse energy into 'tension' energy and progressive one depends on the parameters Y~,
'compression' energy. ~, 11o, Y;, and b, which are material
The damage elastic law is: characteristics.The brittle-damage threshold, Y',
determines the brittle behaviour of the
0"11 V12 fibre/matrix interface in transverse tension.
el, EO EO 0"22
2.2 Plasticity modelling and damage-plasticity
~e = K-*flt¢:~, ~ 8~2 -- at -- 0.11 coupling
E°(1 - d') e ° E°

O12 In order to model the anelastic strains induced by

e~2 - (2) damage, we build up a plasticity model based on
2G?~(1 - d)
 Damage modelling of the elementary ply 259

the following effective quantities: sion. We model the compressive stiffness loss in
effective stress #, which is defined in the the following manner:
previous section, E1 m Eo(1 + 'y(or11)_ ) (13)
effective plastic strain rate
The initial modulus, E °, is the same in tension
and in compression. The compressive stiffness
loss constant, y, is a material characteristic. The
complete elastic model is then written:
O"11 ~t120"22
V~k~2(1 - d) E~I =
E0(X -I- ]/(O"11)_ ) E0
which are conjugated with plasticity dissipation V12Oll (0"22)+ (0"22) -
e~2 = } f (14)
e ° e°(1- d') E°
q~p= Tr[#~ p] = Tr[o~ p] (8) O'12
E~2 =
2G°2(1 - d)
The hardening is assumed to be isotropic, and
the elasticity domain is defined by the function f The strain energy is expressed in the form:
such that: ED = qg(O) (15)
f = V o h + a2O~2 - R ( p ) - Ro (9) where q0 is the thermodynamic potential.
where the threshold R is a function of the The brittle character of fibres is expressed by:
accumulated plastic strain p; p--->R(p) is a E1 = E°(I + y ( O l l ) _ ) if ell < 611 < ET1 (16)
material-characteristic function, and a 2 is a
material-characteristic constant.
The yield conditions are then written: 3 MODEL IDENTIFICATION
~lPl = O; Apart from initial elastic characteristics, the
model depends on:
k~2 = a ~ 02._______,6;
~2
R +Ro constant Yc, Y', Yo, Y~, Y', and b, which define
damage-development laws,
(~12 hardening curve p ~ R ( p ) and constant a 2,
~P2 -- (10)
2(R + Ro) ,6 constant y, which defines the compressive-
012612 + a2022622 stiffness loss in the fibre direction,
6 = limit strains eT1 and eh.
OR
(R + Ro) - - In the following sections, the identification
@
procedure (Fig. 2) is described. We give the
if f = 0 and f = 0; otherwise ,6 = 0 (11) relations between the measured experimental
quantities, which are:
The model assumes that no plastic yield exists in
the fibre direction (eVl = 0). Furthermore, in the the tension F, which is related to the
expression of the function f, we assume that the homogeneous stress a~ by: a~ = F / S , where S
is the specimen section,
stress trll has no effect on the plasticity
development. the laminate axial strain e~,
Squaring eqns (10) and summing them, we the laminate transverse strain e~,
obtain an expression for ,6 in terms of the and the ply stresses 011, 022, a12 and ply strains
effective plastic-strain rate: ~11~ ~22~ ~12-
"t /• lrp2
,6 = VOeE12 + a2E~22 (12)

2.3 Fibre-direction-behaviour modelling

Experimental results in the fibre direction6 show f~ ~--

a brittle linear elastic behaviour in tension and a
brittle non-linear elastic behaviour in compres- Fig. 2. Laminate reference and ply reference.
 260 P. Ladeveze, E. Le Dantec

For further details of procedures and speci- (3t~ (Mf'a)

mens used during the tests, one may refer to 1200

earlier work of the present authors. 9"13 1000 , Face A /~+"

3.1 Damage measurement and plastic strain

measurement

Damage is characterized by material stiffness 40O

loss. This is revealed by elastic modulus 200 /

variations on the experimental curves. <
Plasticity is revealed by the emergence of F ,0 ' ~ ' i r >
-0,002 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014
permanent strains, such that the instantaneous
Fig. 4. Tensile behaviour of an 1M6/914 [0, 9 0 ] 2 ~ laminate.
measured total strain is expressed by:
e~ = e~ + e p (17)
3.3 Compressive test on a [0, 90]4, laminate
It is necessary in the course of the test to load
and unload in order to measure d,, e~, e,v. The As for the previous test, the fibre compressive
number of cycles must not exceed five or six in limit strain e]~ is determined. The compressive
order to stay in a domain where low-cycle fatigue stiffness loss constant 7 is obtained by construct-
phenomena are negligible. ing the curve that plots the continuously
compressive secant modulus, El, versus stress,
trn (Fig. 5).
Loading and unloading show that there is no
permanent strain and no stiffness loss due to
damage phenomena (Fig. 6).

E11(10*GPa)
1700

Fig. 3. Damage measurement and plastic-strain measure-

ment.
152~5-. _
1350

Figure 3 shows the measured quantities for one 1175

cycle i:
Ull (MPa)
d~: damage variable, I000 ' ' i ' ' t . . . . i >
e,e: plastic strain, 500 1000 1500

e~: elastic strain, Fig. 5. Fibre secant compressive modulus variation of

elementary ply for IM6/914 material.
o,: stress.
/~ ( f l l (MP8)
3.2 Tensile test on [0, 90]2, laminate 1500 -

Relations between measured quantities and ply

quantities are: i000 JJ

rr r

{ e , , = et (18)
o , , = 2o~. - E2eE

The contribution of the term E 2 e * is small, and

hence we may assume that E2 takes the initial
• 500
i
!

' /
i "
/
/ ~
m v e test
.... Fon~ point bnndinq rut

~" 11 ( ' ; }
0 F~ . . . . , r - ~ ! >
value E~. o.2 0.4 o.~ 0.8 1 1,2 1.~
This test (Fig. 4) gives the fibre tensile limit Fig. 6. Elementary-ply fibre compressive behaviour of
strain e~. IM6/914 material.
 Damage modelling of the elementary ply 261

Remark: Cross-ply laminates are used for

identification because they are less sensitive to 140

defects, which can be important for compressive ~2o

4h) / /
behaviour study. Tensile behaviour identification 100 ~
/
o o
through a test on a unidirectional laminate gives
8o
the same coetticients.
60

3.4 Tensile test on a [+45]2, laminate 40 I •

*
o
--:
: TnJt
: Test B
: Test C
1
Identified curve
20
The following relationships allow us to reconstit-
ute the ply shear behaviour (Fig. 7): o ' I ' I ' t ' t '- I ' I ' I >
o.l o.( 0.6 o.e z z,l z.l
Fig. 9. Plasticity m a s t e r c u r v e of e l e m e n t a r y ply for
I M 6 [ 9 1 4 material.
a12 =-2- (19)
e* - e *
e12 ~ T curve (Fig. 8):

The strains en and nee are negligible. d - ( - Y - Y°)÷ (21)

Yo
(Y~a (DAN)
10 3. 4.2 Identification of plasticity development law
The threshold values ( R + R o ) are directly
8
obtained by the measurement of shear stress o12
and shear damage d:
O"12
eqn (9) ~ R + Ro = - - (22)
(1 - d )
2
The accumulated plastic strain, p, is calculated
by integration of the curve of 2(1 - d) versus eV=
0 ' I >"
0 2 4 (Fig. 9):
Fig. 7. E l e m e n t a r y - p l y shear behaviour of T300/914
material. eqn (12) ~ p = 2(1 - d) de (23)
"0
3. 4.1 Identification of damage development law Function p ~ R(p) is chosen to take the form:
In the shear case, the expression (4) of the
quantity _Yis reduced to: R (p) = tip ~ (24)

eqn (4) ::), Y = ~ d -- O12 3.5 Tensile test on a [+67.5h, laminate

(1-d)~ (20)

and we then determine the shear-damage master Theoretical analysis of a [:1:67.5]z~ laminate leads
to expressions of stresses and strains in the upper
layer:
0.8
O"1z = SO'~
0.6 . ~ O O 022 ~- SrO'~
O"12~ Su(~
0.4
en ~ 0 (25)
A
JP" " * Test B
&2 = cos 2 0e* + sin 2 0e~
0.2 ~x/ 0 Test C
Iflentzfzefl curve
e12 = (cos 0 sin 0)(e~ - e~)
Y (M,
Ngg)
0 = 67.5 °
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Fig. 8. S h e a r d a m a g e m a s t e r c u r v e of e l e m e n t a r y ply for where quantities s, s', s" depend on the ply
I M 6 / 9 1 4 material. mechanical behaviour and ply orientation. For
262 P. Ladeveze, E. Le Dantec

©z2 ( M P s )
~o -~ d'

~t
O.12 -~

,°!
i

0,08
o.1~
i •

0.06
20 - , ~22
0.0~~ ified curve
/ + : Tests

0,02 -~ /
o o.ooz o.ood o.oo~ o.ooe
Fig. 10. Transverse tension behaviour of IM6/914 material 0 i
i / ¥ ( )
' ' i ' ] ' I ' J ' ] ' E
for a tensile test on a [±67-512~ laminate. o o.z 0.2 0.3 o.~ o.s o.~ o,7
Fig. 12. Transverse tension damage master curve of
carbon/epoxy composites, their variations are elementary ply for IM6/914 material.
small, and one may construct the transverse
tension curve and the shear curve of an rupture stress of the [+67.512s laminate o~ is
elementary ply (Figs 10 and 11). reached (Fig. 13).
From measurement of d, d', Y~, and Ya,, and
knowing the parameters Y~ and Y0, one may Remark. The scatter is rather important, and b
extract the value of the constant b by fitting the is only approximately constant during loading. A
shear damage measurements of the present test more sophisticated model can be found in ref. 9.
with the shear damage master curve identified (~L stopped
with the tensile test on the [+4512s laminate. calculation ~

From eqns (4) and (6), one may write: calculation / experimental

b = (Y~d + Yo) 2 - - Yd ~ test rupture

/
/
(26) /
G,
Now, the determination of the transverse tension )
EL / i)
Y$'

damage master-curve constants is straightforward Ys

(Fig. 12): Fig. 13. Identification of the brittle-damage threshold in
transverse tension, Y~.
d , _ (_Y- Y~)+
Y: It is also possible to replace this test by a [45]8
laminate or any laminate that gives both
inferring a relation from the yield conditions (eqn non-zero transverse and shear stresses. They lead
(10)): to the same value for b taking account the
scatter. Nethertheless, the scatter seems to be
a2 = e~2(1- d')20,2 (because (022)+ = 0~2) (27)
2k~2(1 -- d)20"22 minimized for laminates such as [+67-512s.

The value of the brittle damage threshold in

transverse tension, Y~, is identified by making a 4 CHECKING THE MODEL
numerical simulation of the model. The calcula-
tion is stopped when the mean experimental 4.1 Study of a cross-ply laminate in uniaxiai
~ e (MP8) tension
40 /

In the first part of the study, we establish the

relationships between the applied tensile load
and the stresses and strains of each ply (Fig. 14).
20 -i

Z
A
I,
90 ~ plies I~
0 , , j i > V f
0 0.002 O, 004
Fig. 11. Shear behaviour of IM6/914 material for a tensile
test on a [+67.512~ laminate. Fig. 14. Cross-ply-laminate definition.
 Damagemodellingof the elementaryply 263

We apply classical plate-and-shell t h e o r y The constitutive law of each layer is expressed

hypotheses which are: in the following form, assuming {1 -
plane stress state (v12) E2/E~) ~ 1:
0 2 0 0
in-plane strains have linear variations through
O[1,2 ] =
the laminate thickness.
In the case of a symmetric laminate in uniaxial v°2E2°(1 - d') 0 ]
tension, the in-plane strains are constant and the - a') E°(1 - d') 0 J ql,:]
mean laminate stress is directly proportional to 0 0 2G12(1 - d)
the applied load:
(31)
We suppose in the above that plastic strains are
(28) negligible compared with elastic strains.
Nethertheless, the damage level due to local
transverse stresses can be important. The stress
The tensile load is parallel to a material expressions of each ply are then:
orthotropic direction, and the in-plane strain
F E°eL+ v°2E°( 1 - d;)er 7]
tensor of the laminate is then written:

(29)
@,2J [ vO2EO(1 - d;)eLO+E°(1 - d;)e~'j1.

(32)
I E0~.T+ v°2E°(1-d~)eL ]
0 0 r 0 f
Ply strains expressed in their orthotropic o[19°~]= vnE2(1 - dz)eTO+gz(1 - d2)eL
reference are:
We deduce from the stress relationship o~=
0* 90~
E[1,2 ] = E[1,2 ] = (30) ½(O~tL,T]+ O~T]), that the laminate behaviour law
in terms of ply characteristics (with E ° >> E °) is:

2 2v°2E°(2 - d; - d~)
E0 E o2 0

I~s = 2v°2E°(2 - d; - d~) 2

g o 0 (33)

1
0
G°2(2 - d l - d2)

From the above relationship, we directly

determine the apparent laminate Poisson's ratio, .~LT
0.05
VLT ."

v°2E°(2 - d; - d~) 0.04

VET= EO (34)
0.03
The model then predicts a decrease in VET with
damage, as is experimentally observed (Fig. 15).
.... : Vor,,ula (3¢) . . . . . .
For glass-fibre composites, the fibre-direction 0.02

modulus E °, is smaller, and hence the cross-ply

EL
apparent modulus, EL, in the load direction is O.Ol ' I ' p ' ] ' I ' r ' I ' [ >
equal to i2(E1o + E°(1 - d~)). The small stiffness 0.002 0,004 O.OOG 0,000 0.01 0.012 0.014
loss observed by several authors 3,14-16 may
Fig. 15. Apparent Poisson's ratio variations of a cross-ply
therefore be described in the same way. laminate ([0, 9012~ IM6/914).
264 P. Ladeveze, E. Le Dantec

Substituting (33) in (32) and neglecting two layers. The 90 ° ply is damaged first, and the
( E J0E 202
) terms, one obtains the expression for damage is far more important than for the 0 ° ply;
ply stresses in orthotropic references: this is due to the initial propagation threshold,

(2 2E°(1-b- d;)) Yd. This cross-ply laminate degradation mode is

observed by several authors. 1436

2v°2E°(1 - d;) 4.2 Rupture prediction of a [ + 4 5 ] ~ laminate in

O~21~" 0.L uniaxial tension
E° (35)
-2v°zE°(1 - d;) A simple calculation involving the use of
0.1901° ~ (~ L
e o elastic-plate theory shows that [+4512~ laminate
behaviour in tension is governed essentially by
O.29~o 2E°(1 - d2) O'c
Eo ply shear behaviour: the strains e,, and e= are
negligible with respect to the shear strain e,2.
With the damage development law of d' (eqns Laminate rupture then occurs at the same time as
(4), (5), and (7)), it is simple to calculate the ply shear rupture. The purpose of this example is
values of d; and d~ explicitly in terms of the mean to show simply and directly the link between
laminate stress OL: rupture behaviour and material damage develop-
*0° ply: ment. In our model, rupture is expressed as a
verification of an instability criterion (Fig. 16).
Ib (o222>+ ~f2 b 2v°12E° The greater part of this section of the paper
Y-1 = 2 EO ( i - -~-() = EO E0 O'L analytically determines the incremental shear-
0 0 behaviour law k~2---~012.
1 (a°2)+ V122 V ~ 2
(36) The total shear strain rate, k12, is the sum of
(1 - d;) Eo 0.L
the elastic shear strain rate k~2 and the plastic
d;-
(r,- if y~ <- Y';
shear-strain rate k~2.
The shear yield condition is written:
Yc' otherwise d( = 1
*90 ply eqn (9) ~ Ol-----L-2
1 - d -- R - Ro = 0 (38)
[ b (o~°)+ / b 2E °
O'12
eqn (10) => k~2(1 - d) - p (39)
2(1 d)(R + Ro)
1
-Y~=~(1-d~)- E ° OL (37) 0"12
eqn (11) ~ , b = OR 0,2 (40)
(_1"2-- r~)+ (1 - d ) ( R + Ro) - -
d~ = if Y~-- Y'; @
Y' otherwise d2-'- 1
and we then extract the following relationship:
For the IM6/914 material, the identified para-
0"12
meters of the model are: ~2 = (41)
OR
Y" = 3.78 ~ Y~ = 0.24 V ~ P a 2(1 - d)
OlO
b = 2.5 Y" = 0.7 V ~ P a
E ° = 10-8 GPa E1° = 170 GPa p
v°2 = 0-34 j-J '\\
\\\,
Taking a value of the laminate mean stress
OrL = 800 MPa, we obtain:
_Y;= 0.23 ~ _Y~= 0.69 V ~ P a / 6L
_Y1= 0.37 ~ _Y2= 1-09 V ~ P a
>
d; = 0.035 d~ = 0.22 ~c
The model then predicts microcracking of the Fig. 16. Instability criterion.
 Damage modelling of the elementary ply 265

The shear elastic law of the unidirectional layer is In this example, the instability criterion is:
written: F=0 or d=l (51)

e~2 = (42) From eqn (47), we make Ya appear in the

2G°2 expression for F, and we can then calculate the
and we have, in terms of stress and strain rates: limit shear-damage value, de, when F equals
zero:
~12
t~2 = (43)
2G°2 d ~ = ~1 ( _1~ ) Yo (52)
Attempting to express shear effective-stress rate,
hiE, in term of shear stress rate, 012, we have: The term Yo/Y~ is generally small, and the value
of d~ is then close to 1/2. This is in good
• 012 + " 0"12 (44) agreement with experimental values (Fig. 8). The
012= 1~--~ d(1-~/)2 calculated shear rupture stress is given by the
following relationship:
The shear damage-development law is:

eqns (4), (6) ~ d (45) 0~2 - 4

and then: For IM6/914 material, the model parameter

d- L values are:
2Y~V~d (46)
yc = 2.77 Mv~-P-a, yo = 0.15 M~/M--Pa,
The quantity Ya is expressed in terms of 0"~2and d G°2 = 5.8 GPa
in the following form:
and the calculated rupture shear stress, 0-~2, then
oh equals 78.6 MPa, a value very close to the ex-
Yd - 2GO2(1 _ d)2 (47) perimental value of 82 MPa. An analogous result
is obtained for T300/914 material: a~2 =
- 1 ( 0"12 012 + a) (48) 88.5 MPa and ~ P = 92 MPa (Fig. 17).
l;'a G O 2 ( l _ d ) \ ( l _ d ) (l-d) z /
and substituting eqns (47) and (48) in eqn (46), 0- L (MPa)
250
we extract d as a function of 012:
---: ~lst
d= 012 200 ~ : Kodol
(49) ÷ : Failure prediction
Y~(I - d)F
150
where Pill
0"12 iI
F=I //
yc~/2GO2(1 - d) 2
//1/
Then, using eqn (49) in eqn (44), and the
resulting equation in eqns (41) and (43), we have
the following incremental shear behaviour law: -0.04 -0.02 O.02 0 .'04
Fig. 17. Comparison of experimental and simulated
~12 ~ ~ 2 -I" ~lP2 behaviour of a [:t:4512~laminate with T300/914 material.

k12 =
(lo: l p) 4 --
(1 - d) OR
4.3 Rupture and behaviour predictions for
[67.5, 22.5],, and [-12, 78]2, laminates

O'12 We have compared model predictions with

x ( F + (2vTG~lz(1- d)) 3) 012 (50) experimental results from tensile tests on
2(1 - ~/)F
non-classical laminates such as [67.5, 22.512s and
The instability criterion is verified when the shear [-12, 78]z~ laminates. Calculations are made by
stress, 0",2, reaches a maximum, in other words, numerical simulations that take damage, plas-
when 012 = 0 and k12 4: 0. ticity, and fibre tension-compression behaviour
266 P. Ladeveze, E. Le Dantec

C)L (MPa) ply-degradation mechanisms. The laminate be-

500 haviour reconstitution is simply done by means of
classical plate and shell theory.

2 /I It
The examples referred to this paper show the
aptitudes of such models to describe the
consequences of ply degradation on the mechani-
cal and rupture properties of a laminate. In
200 !
I ---: ~est particular, we analytically describe the damage
l - - : Nodel
! ÷ : railur, prodiction
ZOO I .......... . C.LT. kinematics of a cross-ply laminate loaded in
r * : Tsai-flill criteria
uniaxial tension. The kinematics have been
, , , j , ~ , I >
experimentally observed by numerous authors.
-0.04 -0.02 0.02 0.04 The study of a [+4512s laminate's internal-
Fig. 18. Comparison of experimental and simulated degradation progression in uniaxial tension
behaviour of a [-12, 7812~ laminate with T300/914 material. allows us to show the direct link with rupture
behaviour. This model is currently being used in
composite structural analysis codes, which are
200 -
dedicated to critical load determination. ~7.,8
Such modelling can easily be extended to
fatigue loadings by modifying the damage
development laws. Interface modelling can also
f/ be added as in ref. 17 to predict the damage state
1 - ...' "
and even the rupture of laminate structures for
loadings leading to delamination. Another part
of the work in progress concerns the connection
between the proposed damage variables and
physical quantities.
o 0.002 o,oo4 0.006

Fig. 19. Comparison of experimental and simulated

behaviour of a [67.5,22.512s laminate with T300/914
material.
REFERENCES

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