Constitutive modelling of composite laminates under uniaxial compression

A nonlinear constitutive model for a single lamina is proposed for the failure analysis of composite laminates. In the material model, both fiber and matrix are assumed to behave elastic-plastically and the in-plane shear is assumed to behave nonlinearly with a variable shear parameter. The damage onset for individual lamina is detected by a mixed failure criterion, composed of the Tsai-Wu criterion and the maximum stress criterion. After damage takes place within the lamina, the fiber and in-plane shear are assumed to exhibit brittle behavior, and the matrix is assumed to exhibit degrading behavior. The proposed nonlinear material model is tested against experimental data of composite laminates subjected to uniaxial compressive loads, and good agreement is obtained.