Stress induced damage theory in application to modelling of matrix cracking in laminate polymer composites

In the paper a new phenomenological model has been proposed in order to describe a gradual degradation of polymer laminates. The constitutive relations were expressed as a tensor function of two variables: the stress tensor σij and the damage tensor Dij. The general formulation concerns 2-D and 3-D description of material with internal damage. Application of the theory was illustrated by considering gradual degradation of the laminate polymer composite. The evolution laws for the elastic moduli and the Poisson’s ratio were proposed and experimentally verified.