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This is Material Type 161. This model may be used to model the progressive failure analysis for
composite materials consisting of unidirectional and woven fabric layers. The progressive layer
failure criteria has been established by adopting the methodology developed by Hashin [1980] with
a generalization to include the effect of highly constrained pressure on composite failure. This
failure model can be used to effectively simulate fiber failure, matrix damage, and delamination
behavior under all conditions - opening, closure, and sliding of failure surfaces. Furthermore, this
progressive failure modeling approach is advantageous as it enables one to predict delamination
when locations of delamination sites cannot be anticipated. This model is implemented for single
integration point brick elements only.
Card Format
Card 1

Variable

Type

MID

RO

EA

EB

EC

GAB

GBC

GCA

AOPT

XP

YP

ZP

A1

A2

A3

NUBA

NUCA

NUCB

Card 2

Variable

Type

Card 3

Variable

Type

**

This model needs a special license key from Materials Sciences Corporation,
Suite 250, 500 Office Center Drive, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Tel: 215-542-8400
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Card 4

Variable

V1

V2

V3

D1

D2

D3

BETA

SAT

SAC

SBT

SBC

SCT

SFC

SFS

SAB

SBC

SCA

SFFC

AMODEL

PHIC

E_LIMT

S_DELM

OMGMX

ECRSH

EEXPN

CERATE

Type

Card 5

Variable

Type

Card 6

Variable

Type

Card 7

Variable

Type

VARIABLE

DESCRIPTION

MID

Material identification. A unique number has to be chosen.

RO

Mass density

EA

Ea, Youngs modulus - longitudinal direction

EB

Eb, Youngs modulus - transverse direction

EC

Ec, Youngs modulus through thickness direction

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NUBA

ba, Poissons ratio ba

NUCA

ca, Poissons ratio ca

NUCB

cb, Poissons ratio cb

GAB

Gab, shear modulus ab

GBC

Gbc, shear modulus bc

GCA

Gca, shear modulus ca

AOPT

Material axes option, see Figure 20.1:

EQ. 0.0: locally orthotropic with material axes determined by
element nodes as shown in Figure 20.1. Nodes 1, 2, and 4 of an
element are identical to the Nodes used for the definition of a
coordinate system by *DEFINE_COORDINATE_NODES.
EQ. 1.0: locally orthotropic with material axes determined by a point
in space and the global location of the element center, to define the adirection.
EQ. 2.0: globally orthotropic with material axes determined by
vectors defined below, as with *DEFINE_COORDINATE_VECTOR.

XP YP ZP

Define coordinates of point p for AOPT = 1.

A1 A2 A3

Define components of vector a for AOPT = 2.

V1 V2 V3

Define components of vector v for AOPT = 3.

D1 D2 D3

Define components of vector d for AOPT = 2.

BETA

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Layer in-plane rotational angle in degrees.

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VARIABLE

DESCRIPTION

SAT

Longitudinal tensile strength

SAC

Longitudinal compressive strength

SBT

Transverse tensile strength

SBC

Transverse compressive strength

SCT

Through thickness tensile strength

SFC
SFS

Crush strength
Fiber mode shear strength

SAB

Matrix mode shear strength, ab plane, see below.

SBC

Matrix mode shear strength, bc plane, see below.

SCA

Matrix mode shear strength, ca plane, see below.

SFFC

Scale factor for residual compressive strength

AMODEL

Material models:
EQ. 1: Unidirectional layer model
EQ. 2: Fabric layer model

PHIC

Coulomb friction angle for matrix and delamination failure

E_LIMT

Element eroding axial strain

S_DELM

Scale factor for delamination criterion

OMGMX

Limit damage parameter for elastic modulus reduction

ECRSH

Limit compressive volume strain for element eroding

EEXPN

Limit tensile volume strain for element eroding

CERATE

LS-DYNA Version 960

Coefficient for strain rate dependent strength properties

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Material Models

The unidirectional layer failure criteria and the associated property degradation models are
described as follows. Note that all failure criteria are expressed in terms of stress components
based on ply level stresses a , b , c , ab , bc , ca with a, b and c denoting the fiber, in-plane
transverse and out-of-plane directions, respectively.

Three criteria are used for fiber failure, one in tension/shear, one in compression and another one in
crush under pressure. They are chosen in terms of quadratic stress forms as follows.
Tensile/shear fiber mode:

F I + FG
=G
H S JK H
2

f1

aT

IJ
K

2
+ ca
1 = 0
2
S FS

2
ab

Compression fiber mode:

f2

F I
=G
H S JK
'
a

'a = a +

1 = 0,

b +c

aC

Crush mode:

f3

F p IJ
=G
HS K

1 = 0,

p=

a +b +c
3

FC

are Macaulay brackets, S aT and S aC are the tensile and compressive strengths in the

where

fiber direction, and S FS and S FC are the layer strengths associated with the fiber shear and crush
failure, respectively.
Matrix mode failures must occur without fiber failure, and hence they will be on planes parallel to
fibers. For simplicity, only two failure planes are considered: one is perpendicular to the planes of
layering and the other one is parallel to them. The matrix failure criteria for the failure plane
perpendicular and parallel to the layering planes, respectively, have the forms
Perpendicular matrix mode:

F I + FG IJ + FG IJ
=G
H S JK H S K H S K
2

f4

bT

bc
'
bc

ab

1 = 0

ab

Parallel matrix mode (Delamination):

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2 2 2
f5 = S c + bc'' + ca 1 = 0
ScT Sbc Sca
2

where SbT is the transverse tensile. Based on the Coulomb-Mohr theory, the shear strengths for the
transverse shear failure and the two axial shear failure modes are assumed to be the forms,

bg
+ tanb g
+ tanb g
+ tanb g

( 0)
S ab = S ab
+ tan b

S bc' = S bc( 0 )
S ca = S ca( 0 )
S bc" = S bc( 0 )

(0)
where is a material constant as tan() is similar to the coefficient of friction, and S ab
, S ca( 0 ) and
S bc( 0 ) are the shear strength values of the corresponding tensile modes.

Failure predicted by the criterion of f4 can be referred to as transverse matrix failure, while the matrix
failure predicted by f5, which is parallel to the layer, can be referred as the delamination mode when
it occurs within the elements that are adjacent to the ply interface. Note that a scale factor S is
introduced to provide better correlation of delamination area with experiments. The scale factor S
can be determined by fitting the analytical prediction to experimental data for the delamination
area.
When fiber failure in tension/shear mode is predicted in a layer by f1, the load carrying capacity of
that layer is completely eliminated. All the stress components are reduced to zero instantaneously
(100 time steps to avoid numerical instability). For compressive fiber failure, the layer is assumed
to carry a residual axial load, while the transverse load carrying capacity is reduced to zero. When
the fiber compressive failure mode is reached due to f2, the axial layer compressive strength stress
is assumed to reduce to a residual value S RC (= SFFC * S AC ). The axial stress is then assumed to
remain constant, i.e., a = S RC , for continuous compressive loading, while the subsequent
unloading curve follows a reduced axial modulus to zero axial stress and strain state. When the
fiber crush failure occurs, the material is assumed to behave elastically for compressive pressure, p
> 0, and to carry no load for tensile pressure, p < 0.
When a matrix failure (delamination) in the a-b plane is predicted, the strength values for S ca( 0 ) and
S bc( 0 ) are set to zero. This results in reducing the stress components c, bc and ca to the fractured
material strength surface. For tensile mode, c >0, these stress components are reduced to zero. For
compressive mode, c <0, the normal stress c is assumed to deform elastically for the closed matrix
crack. Loading on the failure envelop, the shear stresses are assumed to slide on the fractured
strength surface (frictional shear stresses) like in an ideal plastic material, while the subsequent
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unloading shear stress-strain path follows reduced shear moduli to the zero shear stress and strain
state for both bc and ca components.
The post failure behavior for the matrix crack in the a-c plane due to f4 is modeled in the same
(0)
and
fashion as that in the a-b plane as described above. In this case, when failure occur, S ab
(0)
S bc are reduced to zero instantaneously. The post fracture response is then governed by failure
(0)
= 0 and S bc( 0 ) = 0. For tensile mode, b>0, b, ab and bc are zero. For
criterion of f5 with S ab
compressive mode, b <0, b is assumed to be elastic, while ab and bc slide on the fracture strength
surface as in an ideal plastic material, and the unloading path follows reduced shear moduli to the
zero shear stress and strain state. It should be noted that bc is governed by both the failure functions
and should lie within or on each of these two strength surfaces.
Failure criteria based on the 3D stresses in a plain weave composite layer with improved
progressive failure modeling capability have also been established following the same approach as
that for the unidirectional model. Note that the fabric failure criteria are expressed in terms of
stress components based on ply level stresses a , b , c , ab , bc , ca with a, b and c denoting the
in-plane fill, in-plane warp and out-of-plane directions, respectively.

The fill and warp fiber tensile/shear failure are given by the quadratic interaction between the
associated axial and shear stresses, i.e.
f6

F
=G
HS
F
=G
HS

aT

f7

I + c + h 1 = 0
JK S
I + c + h 1 = 0
JK S
2

bT

2
ca

2
aFS

2
ab

2
ab

2
bc

2
bFS

where S aT and S bT are the axial tensile strengths in the fill and warp directions, respectively, and

S aFS and S bFS are the layer shear strengths due to fiber shear failure in the fill and warp directions.
These failure criteria are applicable when the associated a or b is positive. It is assumed S aFS =
SFS, and S bFS = SFS * S bT / S aT .
When a or b is compressive, it is assumed that the in-plane compressive failure in both the fill and
warp directions are given by the maximum stress criterion, i.e.

f8

L
=M
MN S
L
=M
MN S

'
a

aC

f9

'
b

bC

OP
PQ
OP
PQ

1 = 0,

'a = a

1 = 0,

'b = b + c

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where S aC and S bC are the axial compressive strengths in the fill and warp directions, respectively.
The crush failure under compressive pressure is
f10

F p IJ
=G
HS K

1 = 0,

p=

a +b +c
3

FC

A plain weave layer can fail under in-plane shear stress without the occurrence of fiber breakage.
This in-plane matrix failure mode is given by
f11

F IJ
=G
HS K
ab

1 = 0

ab

where S ab is the layer shear strength due to matrix shear failure.

Another failure mode, which is due to the quadratic interaction between the thickness stresses, is
expected to be mainly a matrix failure. This through the thickness matrix failure criterion is

R|F I + F I + F I U| 1 = 0
= S SG
|TH S JK GH S JK GH S JK V|W
2

f12

bc

ca

cT

bc

ca

where S cT is the through the thickness tensile strength, and S bc , and S ca are the shear strengths
assumed to depend on the compressive normal stress c, i.e.,

RSS UV = R|SS U|V + tanb g

TS W |TS |W
ca

(0)
ca

bc

(0)
bc

When failure predicted by this criterion occurs within elements that are adjacent to the ply interface,
the failure plane is expected to be parallel to the layering planes, and, thus, can be referred to as the
delamination mode. Note that a scale factor S is introduced to provide better correlation of
delamination area with experiments. The scale factor S can be determined by fitting the analytical
prediction to experimental data for the delamination area.
Similar to the unidirectional model, when fiber tensile/shear failure is predicted in a layer by f6 or f7,
the load carrying capacity of that layer in the associated direction is completely eliminated. For
compressive fiber failure due to by f8 or f9, the layer is assumed to carry a residual axial load in the
failed direction, while the load carrying capacity transverse to the failed direction is assumed
unchanged. When the compressive axial stress in a layer reaches the compressive axial strength
S aC or S bC , the axial layer stress is assumed to be reduced to the residual strength S aRC or S bRC
where S aRC = SFFC * S aC and S bRC = SFFC * S bC . The axial stress is assumed to remain constant,
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i.e., a = S aCR or b = S bCR , for continuous compressive loading, while the subsequent
unloading curve follows a reduced axial modulus. When the fiber crush failure is occurred, the
material is assumed to behave elastically for compressive pressure, p > 0, and to carry no load for
tensile pressure, p < 0.
When the in-plane matrix shear failure is predicted by f11 the axial load carrying capacity within a
failed element is assumed unchanged, while the in-plane shear stress is assumed to be reduced to
zero.
For through the thickness matrix (delamination) failure given by equations f12, the in-plane load
carrying capacity within the element is assumed to be elastic, while the strength values for the
tensile mode, S A( 0 ) and S T( 0 ) , are set to zero. For tensile mode, c >0, the through the thickness stress
components are reduced to zero. For compressive mode, c <0, c is assumed to be elastic, while bc
and ca slide on the fracture strength surface as in an ideal plastic material, and the unloading path
follows reduced shear moduli to the zero shear stress and strain state.
The effect of strain rate on the layer strength values of the fiber failure modes is modeled by
multiplying the associated strength values by a scale factor SRT as
S RT = 1 + Crate ln


 0

where  is the effective strain rate for 0 = 1s 1 .

Element Erosion

A failed element is eroded in any of three different ways:

1.
2.
3.

If fiber tensile failure in a unidirectional layer is predicted in the element and the axial
tensile strain is greater than E_LIMIT. For a fabric layer, both in-plane directions are failed
and exceed E_LIMIT.
If compressive volume strain in a failed element is smaller than ECRSH.
If tensile volume strain in a failed element is greater than EEXPN.

Damage History Parameters

Information about the damage history variables for the associated failure modes can be plotted in
LSPOST and LS-TAURUS. These additional variables are tabulated below:

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History Variable

Description

1. efa(I)
2. efb(I)
3. efp(I)
4. em(I)

Fiber mode in a
Fiber mode in b
Fiber crush mode
Perpendicular
matrix mode
Parallel matrix/
delamination mode

5. ed(I)

LS-DYNA Version 960

Value

0-elastic
1-failed

LS-POST
components
8
9
10
11

LS-TAURUS
components
88
89
90
91

12

92

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