Paper number 175

ON CONTINUUM APPROXIMATION IN STABILITY THEORY OF NON-LINEAR COMPOSITES UNDERGOING LARGE DEFORMATIONS

Igor A. Guz and Costas Soutis

Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine
Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BY, UK

Summary

The investigation is devoted to substantiation of the continuum theory of internal instability applied to predict fracture of composites under uniaxial compression. Based on the results obtained within the scope of the model of piecewise-homogeneous medium and three-dimensional linearised theory of deformable bodies stability (TLTDBS), the accuracy of the continuum theory is examined for laminated incompressible materials undergoing large deformations. Estimation of the accuracy of the continuum theory is illustrated by numerical results for the particular models of composites when the layers are hyperelastic materials with the elastic potential of the neo-Hookean type (Treloar's potential). At that the influence of the layers' thickness and their stiffness on the accuracy of the continuum theory is determined.

Keywords

laminated composites, internal instability, compressive fracture, model of piecewise-homogeneous medium, continuum theory, non-linear material, large deformations, neo-Hookean hyperelastic material.