Adaptive phase-field modelling of fracture in orthotropic composites

Author (s): Jain, I.; Muixí, A.; Annavarapu, C.; Mulay, S.S. and Rodríguez-Ferran, A.
Journal: Engineering Fracture Mechanics

Volume: 292
Date: 2023

Abstract:
An adaptive phase-field method is developed and applied to model fracture propagation in orthotropic composites. The proposed approach extends the adaptive phase-field formulation of Muixí et al. (Computational Mechanics 2020; 66:69-85) to generally orthotropic materials through the following modifications: (a) the elastic tensor is evaluated in the global coordinate system from a given engineering stiffness matrix in the principal material coordinates, (b) the strain energy density is additively decomposed into fiber and matrix-dominated modes, and (c) a penalized second-order structural tensor is introduced in the phase-field equations to facilitate preferential damage growth along the fiber orientation. The developed approach is validated through several benchmark examples and available experimental results.

Several numerical experiments are subsequently conducted to study the effect of the following properties on the macroscale laminate failure: (a) fiber orientation in a mesoscale lamina and (b) adhesive layer’s thickness, shear modulus, and fracture toughness. It is observed that fiber orientation plays a significant role in governing macroscale laminate failure. A large increase in ductility and peak-load carrying capacity is observed for configurations where the fibers are oriented such that the principal material coordinates and the global coordinates are aligned. For a typical adhesive, the adhesive layer’s thickness is inversely related to the maximum load-carrying capacity and directly correlated with the macroscopic ductility. Furthermore, increasing the adhesive layer’s fracture toughness increases the macroscopic ductility and prevents catastrophic failure of the laminate. The results of this study provide valuable insights into the failure mechanisms in orthotropic composites.

Journal paper (from the publisher)  
Download file (0 MBytes)  

Bibtex:

@article {IJ-JMAMRF:23,
Author   = {Ishank Jain and Alba Muix\'i and Chandrasekhar Annavarapu 
and Shantanu S. Mulay and Antonio Rodr\'{i}guez-Ferran},
Title    = {Adaptive phase-field modelling of fracture in orthotropic composites},
Fjournal = {Engineering Fracture Mechanics},
Journal  = {Eng. Fract. Mech.},
Volume   = {292},
Number   = {109673},
Year     = {2023},
Doi      = {doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2023.109673},
}