REVIEW OF FAILURE CRITERIA OF FIBROUS COMPOSITE-MATERIALS

Composite materials exhibit various and complex failure behavior. Diff erent formalisms have been used to predict failure. Improvement of old theories and new ones continue to be published. In this paper, the mo st recent and widely used models are presented. Failure criteria such as Tsai-Wu, parametric formulations, maximal stress and strain, Hashin criterion, Hart-Smith criterion, and the method based on kriging are presented. These failure theories may be classified in two categories, depending whether they integrate failure modes or not. The formalism of each theory is briefly described and their application to model fai lure of composite laminates is discussed by comparing the advantages a nd limitations of each method. The diversity of experimental failure e nvelopes, as reported in the literature on composites, is outlined and it is shown that most criteria permit modeling only particular failur e properties of composite laminates.