An automated dynamic fracture procedure and a continuum damage mechanics based model for finite element simulations of delamination failure in laminated composites

An active field of research that has developed due to the increasing use of computational techniques like finite element simulations for analysis of highly complex structural mechanics problems and the increasing use of composite laminates in varied industries such as aerospace, automotive, bio-medical, etc. is the development of numerical models to capture the behavior of composite materials. One of the big challenges not yet overcome convincingly in this field is the modeling of delamination failure which is one of the primary modes of damage in composite laminates. Hence, the primary aim of this work is to develop two numerical models for finite element simulations of delamination failure in composite laminates and implement them in the explicit finite element software DYNA3D/LS-DYNA.;Dynamic fracture mechanics is an example of a complex structural analysis problem for which finite element simulations seem to be the only possible way to extract detailed information on sophisticated physical quantities of the crack-tip at any instant of time along a highly transient history of fracture. However, general purpose, commercial finite element software which have capabilities to do fracture analyses are still limited in their use to stationary cracks and crack propagation along trajectories known a priori. Therefore, an automated dynamic fracture procedure capable of simulating dynamic propagation of through-thickness cracks in arbitrary directions in linear, isotropic materials without user-intervention is first developed and implemented in DYNA3D for its default 8-node solid (brick) element. Dynamic energy release rate and stress intensity factors are computed in the model using integral expressions particularly well-suited for the finite element method. Energy approach is used to check for crack propagation and the maximum circumferential stress criterion is used to determine the direction of crack growth. Since the re-meshing strategy used to model crack growth explicitly in the model induces spurious high-frequency oscillations in the finite element results after crack initiation, a "gradual nodal release" procedure is implemented as part of the model to overcome this problem. Also, an in-built contact algorithm of DYNA3D is modified to adapt it to the remeshing strategy to maintain proper contact conditions at newly added elements. Finally, the model is suitably modified for simulating delamination failure in laminated composites and used to predict delamination resistance characteristics which are important considerations for effective use of composite structures.;Continuum damage mechanics is a popular approach for modeling the in-plane failure modes in composites. However, its applicability to modeling delamination has not been sufficiently analyzed yet. Hence, as the second part of this dissertation work, a new material model is developed for unidirectional polymer matrix composites in which this approach is used to predict delamination failure and used to perform a qualitative study of the damage mechanics approach to modeling delamination. The new material model is developed using micro-mechanics and accounts for the strain-rate dependent behavior of polymer matrix composites. It is implemented for three different element formulations with different transverse shear strain assumptions and the effect of these assumptions on the delamination prediction using this approach is analyzed.