Damage-plasticity in a uniaxially loaded composite lamina: Overall analysis

initiation and evolution of damage and elasto-plastic deformation in composite laminae is studi’ed using an overall approach. In this approach, one damage tensor is used to describe damage in composite materials including the initiation, growth, and coalescence of voids and cracks in the matrix, fiber fracture, and debonding. The mathematical formulation is derived using vectors and matrices to keep the mathematics accessible to many readers who may not be familiar with tensor analysis. The model is applied to a thin fiber-reinforced unidirectional composite lamina subjected to uniaxial tension. This problem is selected in order to demonstrate how the model can be used without resorting to the finite element method. A governing system of nine simultaneous ordinary differential equations is established for this problem based on the overall approach to damage in composite materials. The system is solved numerically and the results are discussed