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oai:figshare.com:article/32629689 2026-10-01T17:32:18Z portal_1172 item_type_8 month_year_10_2026

High-resolution numerical models for damage assessment in composite materials Luis Varandas (706013) PUREID: 214718153 Polymer matrix composites (PMCs) fracture computational mechanics micromechanics Mesomechanics stochastic delamination migration textile composites size effect method This thesis was conducted as part of an Innovative Training Network (ITN) (“ICONIC” - Improving the crashworthiness of composite transportation structures), funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721256. The reported work was undertaken within Work Package 3 (WP3) - “Numerical modelling of impact and crush behaviour of composite structures”, where the focus was on the high-fidelity modelling of energy absorbing mechanisms of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite structures, under a variety of quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions. This contribution presents several numerical strategies to evaluate the mechanical performance of these materials at their different length scales. The developed tools enable a proper and detailed evaluation of the damage mechanisms which arise in both unidirectional and two-dimensional woven textile composites.<br><br>It is well established that a methodology which can be considered reliable in predicting the structural response of heterogeneous materials depends on the scale at which damage is explicitly modelled, making low-scale models ideal subjects to assess the behaviour of composites. Here, it is shown that computational micro- and mesomechanics can be regarded as a reliable numerical tool to analyse different types of phenomena whose contribution is often neglected in laminate-level analysis. The effect of certain material parameters on the mechanical performance of the material, which are difficult to characterise experimentally, can now be studied, and consequently, this work makes a vital contribution towards the proper exploitation of high-resolution numerical frameworks. 2026-10-01T17:32:18Z Text Thesis 10.17034/32629689.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/High-resolution_numerical_models_for_damage_assessment_in_composite_materials/32629689 All Rights Reserved