The monography deals with the problem of failure initiation in thin laminated composites. Known techniques of laminate structures modelling are briefly characterised. Eventually, shell based approach is chosen for the purpose of the description of the composite structures behaviour, as it predicts their deformation and states of stress effectively in a global sense. The nonlinear six parameter shell theory (6p theory) with asymmetric...

The paper presents a FEM simulation of failure of laminate subjected to the three point bending. The numeri-cal model is based on the equivalent single layer approach with 6-paramater non-linear shell theory kinematics. It is implemented in the non-commercial FEM code. The failure initiation is detected with the use of Tsai-Wu criterion. After the failure onset the progressive failure process is modelled through the appropriate...

The paper presents the model of progressive failure analysis of laminates incorporated into the 6-field non-linear shell theory with non-symmetrical strain measures of Cosserat type. Such a theory is specially recommended in the analysis of shells with intersections due to its specific kinematics including the so-called drilling rotation. As a consequence of asymmetry of strain measures, modified laminates failure criteria must...

Within the framework of the nonlinear 6-parameter shell theory with the drilling rotation and asymmetric stress measures, the modifications of Tsai-Wu and Hashin laminate failure initiation criteria are proposed. These improvements enable to perform first ply failure estimations taking into account the non-symmetric stress measures. In order to check the validity of the proposed criteria, finite element analyses are performed with...

The monography deals with the problem of failure initiation in thin laminated composites. Known techniques of laminate structures modelling are briefly characterised. Eventually, shell based approach is chosen for the purpose of the description of the composite structures behaviour, as it predicts their deformation and states of stress effectively in a global sense. The nonlinear six parameter shell theory (6p theory) with asymmetric...