A failure model for the analysis of thin woven glass composite structures under impact loadings

A progressive damage model for a woven glass fibre fabric reinforced with epoxy composite was developed and implemented into a well known explicit Lagrangian finite element code. The approach uses a novel damage mechanics formulation to predict in-plane damage in a woven fabric composite defined by matrix cracks and fibre fracture in the warp and weft directions. The model uses a stress based energy dissipation approach and an advanced post failure strain softening methodology. Strain-rates effects, which are commonly observed for woven glass composites are modelled using a damage lag formulation within the constitutive model. Results are compared with laboratory experiments and full-scale tests. The comparisons indicate that the damage model can predict with reasonable accuracy the damage modes observed in both the laboratory and full-scale experiments. Conclusions are presented also on the logical extensions to the damage formulation.