2-DIMENSIONAL MODELING OF COMPOSITE PINNED-JOINT FAILURE

The modeling of damage in a laminated composite pinned-joint presents many difficulties because of the inherent complexity of the failure process. The joint area is a region with stress concentrations thus a complicated stress state exists. In order to model progressive damage from initial to final failure, finite element methods are used rather than closed form stress analyses. Two approaches for the finite element technique can be used: a simple two-dimensional linear model or one that has been enhanced with non-linear assumptions. Adding non-linear material behaviour and large deformation theory are two improvements that can be made to a linear finite element model. Failure analysis must be a logical combination of suitable failure criteria and appropriate material property degradation rules. It is understood that a three-dimensional analysis may now be a better alternative, but the goal here is to fully understand the limits of two-dimensional modeling for solving the composite pinned-joint problem.