A Continuum Damage Mechanics Approach for Reliability Analysis of Composite Laminates Containing a Central Circular Hole

This paper discusses the topic of probabilistic analysis of composite laminates rectangular plates containing a central circular hole under static tensile load. First, According to the continuum damage mechanics (CDM) approach, structural analysis models, the definition of damage and the treatment of random variables will be explored. Then, the matrix cracking and fiber/matrix debonding damage is modeled and the material constitutive relationships are implemented in the ABAQUS software by the subroutine. The probabilistic methods, first order reliability method (FORM) and second order reliability method (SORM) have been used to analyze the composite plates’ system failure probability. The failure functions and random variables have been obtained according to the CDM approach. Issues arising out of the use of composite material structures, in applications, due to non-homogeneity and anisotropic characteristics, and manufacturing defects will be highlighted, and uncertainties related to the material properties, loads, and boundary conditions will be discussed through examples. It is shown that the scatter in parameter values has a significant effect on damage development in the model.