A constitutive ply model for stiffness degradation and plastic strain accumulation: Its application to the Third World Wide Failure Exercise (Part A)

This paper represents the authors' contribution to Part A of the third World Wide Failure Exercise where a constitutive model is proposed which considers stiffness degradation and plastic strain accumulation for the prediction of stress–strain curves and failure envelopes of 13 test cases, involving various continuous fiber-reinforced laminates with polymeric matrix materials. The model calibration by means of the provided material data is described and the limits of applicability of the proposed constitutive model are discussed. Finally, the predictions are presented as being obtained without any experimental results available. The test cases consider unidirectional and multidirectional laminates under biaxial loads, laminates under various loading conditions (uniaxial, bending, thermal, loading and unloading) and laminates with open hole under tension or compression. Most of the predictions are documented in terms of stress–strain curves and curves presenting the evolution of brittle damage and of plastic strains.