Identification and validation of an enhanced mesomodel for laminated composites within the WWFE-III

The accurate prediction of damage and failure in laminated composites is still a major issue in many structural applications. The paper provides a detailed description of a new damage mesomodel and examines its application to solve material and structural problems for the Test Cases proposed in the Third World-Wide Failure Exercise (WWFE-III). The cases cover various materials (glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy), lay-ups (unidirectional, cross ply, quasi-isotropic, angle ply and general multi-directional laminates), loadings (uniaxial, biaxial, bending, thermal and loading-unloading) and features (ply sequence, size effects and open hole). The model deals with various damage scenarios and mechanisms of degradation, including diffuse intralaminar damage, diffuse interface damage, localized delamination, fibre breakage and plasticity, and can predict the evolution of a laminate's response until final failure. Some issues concerning the limited information available in the exercise for the identification of the parameters of the mesomodel are also discussed.