Dynamic damage analysis of composites via a component-wise 1D approach

This paper proposes an innovative approach that is based on 1D (beam) advanced models for the damage analysis of composite structures. The present 1D formulation stems from the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) and it leads to a Component-Wise (CW) modelling. By means of the CUF, any-order 2D and 1D structural models can be developed in a unified and hierarchically manner and they provide extremely accurate results with very low computational costs. The computational cost reduction in terms of total amount of DOFs ranges from 10 to 100 times less then shell and solid models, respectively. The 1D CUF formulation, which is based on the use of Lagrange polynomials to describe the cross-section displacement field of the structure, is exploited in this paper. Such 1D models lead to the CW since each component of a complex structure can be modelled through a refined 1D model based on Lagrange expansions. The adoption of only 1D models to model complex structures improves the multi-dimension coupling capabilities and reduces the computational costs to a great extent. The CW can lead to a multi-scale approach for composites since each typical component of a composite structure can be modelled through the 1D CUF models and, moreover, different scale components can coexist in the same model with no need of further modelling tools. A detailed physical description of a real structure can be obtained since each component can be modelled with its own material characteristics, that is, no homogenization techniques are required. Furthermore, Although 1D models are exploited, the problem unknown variables can be placed on the physical surfaces of the real 3D model, that is, no artificial surfaces or lines have to be defined to build the structural model. In this paper, damaged composite structures are analysed by means of the CW approach. Static and dynamic responses are carried out and comparisons against classical approaches are provided to show the enhanced capabilities of the present approach in obtaining 3D-like accuracy with very low computational costs.