PERIDYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS

Damage growth in composites involves complex and progressive failure modes. Current computational tools are incapable of predicting failure in composite materials mainly due to their mathematical structure. However, peridynamic theory removes these obstacles by taking into account nonlocal interactions between material points. This study presents an application of peridynamic theory to predict how damage propagates in fiber-reinforced composite materials subjected to mechanical and thermal loading conditions.