An elastic–plastic constitutive model for ceramic composite laminates

Existing phenomenological constitutive models are unable to capture the full range of behaviors of ceramic composite laminates. To ameliorate this deficiency, we propose a new model based on the deformation theory of plasticity. The predictive capabilities of the model are assessed through comparisons of computed and measured strain and displacement fields in open-hole tension tests. The agreements in the magnitude of strains and in the size and shape of shear bands that develop around a hole are very good over most of the loading history. Some discrepancies are obtained at high stresses. These are tentatively attributed to non-proportional stressing of some material elements: a feature not captured by the present model.