Modelling impact damage in composite laminates: A simulation of intra- and inter-laminar cracking

In this work, stress- and fracture mechanics-based criteria are developed to predict initiation and evolution, respectively, of intra- and inter-laminar cracking developed in composite laminates subjected to a relatively low energy impact (⩽15 J) with consideration of nonlinear shear behaviour. The damage model was implemented in the finite element (FE) code (Abaqus/Explicit) through a user-defined material subroutine (VUMAT). Delamination (or...