Reliability Study of Notched Composite Laminates Under Uniaxial Loading Based on Continuum Damage Mechanics Approach

The probability of failure estimation of composite structures under applied loads is an inevitable requirement given the uncertainties related to the material properties, loads, and boundary conditions. The properties of composite materials have more scatter due to non-homogeneity and anisotropic characteristics, and manufacturing defects. In this paper, the reliability of S2-Glass/Epoxy laminate composite materials containing a central circular hole under static tensile load is presented. Failure in fiber-reinforced plastic structures, since individual faults in each ply cannot be traced, is a random process due to the scatter caused by the behavior of the material. According to the continuum damage mechanics (CDM) approach, a damage model proposed by Ladeveze is used to model the matrix cracking and fiber/matrix debonding and then, the material constitutive relationships are implemented in the ABAQUS software by the subroutine. The first-order reliability method (FORM) and second-order reliability method (SORM) have been used to analyze the system failure probability of the composite plates, and the failure functions and random variables have been obtained according to the CDM approach. Scatter in random parameters have been displayed to have a significant effect on damage development. Finally, using sensitivity analysis, sensitive and effective parameters in the reliability of laminate composite were introduced.