Nonlinear progressive failure analysis of laminated composite plates (Q2564386)

A progressive failure algorithm is developed where the generalized layerwise plate theory of Reddy is used for the kinematic description, and the material is modeled as a stable progressively fracturing solid. The geometric nonlinearity is taken into account in the von Kármán sense, and the extensibility of transverse normals is included in the finite element formulation. In addition, a new stiffness reduction scheme is proposed, in which stiffness properties of the failed element are reduced gradually, resulting in partial unloading depending on the amount of damage it accumulates.