AMADE’s research pursues the industry-oriented development of material constitutive models for the reliable simulation of composite materials, bonded joints and, in general, non-linear anisotropic materials. We offer the following services:

• Expert advising on the simulation of composite materials
• Guidelines for the use of advanced material models in industry
• Robust and reliable constitutive models for the simulation of:
  • Damage evolution in composite materials
    Intralaminar damage model
  • Static and fatigue delamination |Adhesive joints damage
    Interlaminar damage model: cohesive zone model
  • Impact events on composite materials and adhesive joints
    Intra and interlaminar damage models
• Development of tailor-made material models

Cohesive zone models allow the modeling of damage at predefined interfaces. They accurately reproduce the fracture process zone and can account for both damage initiation and propagation. The main features of AMADE’s cohesive zone model are:

• Modelling of interlaminar damage: delamination and adhesive joints

Simulation of a lap adhesive joint with cohesive elements

• Static, fatigue and impact loads
• Consistent mixed-mode behavior
• Strategies to use with coarse meshes: reduced computational time
• Implemented and working on Abaqus Standard and ExplicitUser subroutines: UEL | UMAT | UINTER | VUMAT | VUINTER | VUINTERACTION
• Available to be implemented in other FE software
• Physically measurable material properties

Simulation of stiffeners debonding on an impacted composite stiffened panel

The material models developed in AMADE rely on physically measurable material properties that can be obtained in our test lab, mostly by means of standardized tests.
Some guidelines on the required material properties and how to measure them are given:

Composite material elastic properties

Composite material strength properties

Cohesive model material properties

Intralaminar model material properties