Verification of hot-spot in complex composite structures using detailed FEA

Paper in proceeding, 2019

Analysis of large complex composite structures with state of the art failure initiation criteria is difficult and simplifications are therefore needed. This is often done using shell models as these are computationally efficient. However, by this approach, potential failure modes are disregarded as out-of-plane stresses cannot be accounted for.

In this paper, a methodology for verification of large models accounting for full 3D stress states is presented. This is done by identification of critical hot spots in global Finite Element (FE) models. The identified hot spots are further resolved and analysed with detailed FE models. To make this efficient, the different steps needed are combined into a chain of standardized processes.