Component-Wise Method for Macro-Meso-Micro Modeling and Failure Analysis of Composite Structures

Abstract

The work assesses the advanced capabilities of the Component-Wise approach (CW) to model composite structures, with particular attention paid to the failure index evaluation. The CW has been recently proposed as an approach to model complex structures with far fewer degrees of freedom than classical shell and solid finite elements. The CW exploits refined beam models based on the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) to model each component of the structure. The classical finite element 1D approach is used along one direction. On the other hand, the unknown variables are expanded over the remaining two local coordinates via Legendre polynomials, referred to as Hierarchical Legendre Expansions (HLE). Also, non-local expansion domains with curved boundaries are defined to capture the exact shape of the constituents independently of the refinement of the model. Maximum stress criterion and Tsai-Wu criterion are used to evaluate the failure indices and identify critical portions of the structure for different modeling strategies using CW approach. Numerical results are provided for different configurations and compared against the standard 3D finite element models. The paper highlights the efficiency and accuracy of proposed framework against the conventional finite element modeling technique.