Fracture modeling of curved composite shell structures using augmented finite element method

This paper presents an augmented finite element method for the fracture modeling of curved composite shell structures considering geometric nonlinear effects. We first derive the composite shell AFEM (CS-AFEM) formulation using a dynamic implicit algorithm, which enhances the numerical convergence when dealing with unstable crack propagations. Besides, the cohesive zone model featuring with shell kinematics is incorporated into the CS-AFEM to describe the quasi-brittle fracture behaviors of composite laminates. Furthermore, a coordinate transformation scheme is proposed to describe both the local material orientation and the crack evolving path in the curved shell structures. Finally, several benchmark examples are numerically investigated, and the capability of the proposed method in modeling the arbitrary evolving cracks in curved composite shell structures has been thoroughly demonstrated.