Compressive failure of composites: A computational homogenization approach

This paper revisits the modeling of compressive failure of long fiber composite materials by considering a multiscale finite element approach. It is well known that this failure follows from a fiber microbuckling phenomenon. Fiber microbuckling is governed by both material and geometrical quantities: the elastoplastic shear behavior of the matrix and the fiber misalignment. Although all these parameters are easily accounted by a finite element analysis at the local level, the failure is also influenced by macrostructural quantities. That is why a multilevel finite element model (FE2) is relevant to describe the compressive failure of composite. Furthermore, fiber local buckling leads to a loss of ellipticity of the macroscopic model, which can be a criterion of failure.