Automated Construction and Insertion of Layer-by-Layer Finite Element Sub-Models of Damaged Composites

Finite element models of composite structures are generally shell-based and modeled at the laminate level. More detailed layer-by-layer lamina-level models are sometimes needed for representing joints or for modeling defect growth processes. We describe a method and toolkit for automating the creation and insertion of layerby- layer finite element sub-models of composite laminate. We focus in particular on representing damage captured from...