An Elasto-Visco-Plastic Multiscale Model for Fibrous Unidirectional Composite Materials

Abstract

This research thesis investigates the capability of predicting the elasto-visco-plastic material response and failure of a unidirectional composite material. A constitutive framework is developed to incorporate the elastic, plastic and rate sensitive response of composite materials to enhance the simulation capabilities of composite materials for industrial use. Numerical simulations are paramount to facilitating component design at a large scale. In this thesis, a multiscale model is developed from a micromechanics basis in order to predict the macroscopic material behaviour. This model is implemented in an LS-DYNA user-defined material model and incorporates a stress-based failure criteria created for composites. The simulated material response is compared to multiple cases of experimental data from literature, and shows strong agreement with the results. It is recommended that damage and temperature dependence be incorporated into this model in future work.