FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF THE DAMAGE AND FAILURE IN FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITES (OVERVIEW)

The failure and the analysis of composite structures can be various. The failure modes can be investigated separately, but these modes generally arise together (e.g.: matrix cracking and delamination). Due to this experimental observation the main problem is to construct models that can follow more than one of the failure modes. To solve this problem the most proper method is the finite element method (FEM), because of its simplicity. The aim of this paper is to summarize a few publications about the damage and failure of composite materials and structures. The publications were grouped according to the mode of failure, the aim is to give a short description about the finite element modelling of the given failure mode. The models were reconstructed using the finite element code COSMOS/M