LaRC05 Failure criteria

LaRC project

In the LaRC05 failure criteria, the nonlinear shear response is considered. The proposed failure criteria have four modes of failure: matrix crack, fiber failure, fiber splitting, and Kinking.

The LaRC05 criteria is a composites failure model that was implemented as a built-in user subroutine in Abaqus/Standard 2017 and was added to *Damage Initiation in version 2020. It was developed at the NASA Langley Research Center and has been evolving for more than a decade, with different versions named LaRC03, LaRC04, and LaRC05. The LaRC05 failure criteria was used in the WWFE-II exercise by a team at Imperial College London. Abaqus/Standard 2017 offers two forms of implementation: UVARM and UDMGINI.

UVARM and UDMGINI are two different built-in subroutines used for evaluating damage criteria and damage initiation criteria, respectively.

UVARM is used to evaluate the damage criteria for composite materials. It is a user subroutine that calculates the damage variable based on the stresses and strains in the material.

On the other hand, UDMGINI is a subroutine used for damage initiation criteria in XFEM-enriched elements. It calculates the stress and strain values at which damage initiation occurs in the material.

In LS-Dyna FEA software from version R7.0, this failure criterion can also be used as  MAT_261 and  MAT_262. NASA has supported the development of this project. you can find verification and validation of the LaRC failure criteria project, here.

The criteria is almost the latest failure criterion that has been developed in the laminated FRP composite industry, and due to its characteristics, it has received more attention from design & FEA analyst engineers than Puck, Hashin, Tsai-Wu, etc.

LaRC project development

LaRC03 failure criteria

Davila, Camanho, “Failure Criteria for FRP Laminates in Plane Stress”, NASA/TM-2003-212663, 2003

Davila, Camanho, Rose, “Failure Criteria for FRP Laminates”, Journal of Composites Materials, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2005

LaRC04 failure criteria

Pinho, Davila, Camanho, Iannucci, Robinson, “Failure models and criteria for FRP under in-plane or three-dimensional stress states including shear non-linearity”, NASA/TM-2005-213530, 2005

LaRC05 / WWFE-II failure criteria

Pinho et al., “Material and structural response of polymer-matrix fibre-reinforced composites”, Journal of Composites Materials, Vol 46 (19-20), 2012, pp. 2313–2341.

Pinho et al., “Material and structural response of polymer-matrix fibre-reinforced composites: Part B”, Journal of Composites Materials, Vol 47 (6-7), 2013, pp. 679-696.

LaRC05 Abaqus tutorial chapters

In this Abaqus tutorial video, an introduction to LaRC 05 failure criteria is given, first. Then, the formulation and theory of failure criterion are explained and the methods of using it in Abaqus and LS Dyna software are examined.

Finally, two practical examples and 19 useful files on the use of this criterion in numerical modeling are presented.

• Types of failure criteria in laminated composite materials
• Introduction of LaRC05 failure criterion
• Mathematical equations and standard theory
• Type of failure modes
• Failure criteria applications
• Review and comparison of   MAT_261, and  MAT_262 models in LS Dyna and the model used in Abaqus software
• Comparison of Hashin criterion and LaRC05 criterion in Abaqus software
• Check inputs and outputs
• How to set and use the material model
• Application of LaRC05 failure criteria in the XFEM method

LaRC05 failure criteria workshop & examples

• Example 1:  Damage prediction in the tensile test of a FRP composite plate
• Example 2: Predicting crack growth in the tensile test of a FRP composite plate by XFEM method