Toughness assessment and micro-to-macro correlation of fracture processes in composite materials using a versatile embedded multiscale-model

In many applications metals are substituted by fibre-reinforced polymer composite laminates that are composed by layers. Type and sequence of fracture modes between and inside layers are neither well understood nor correlated to fracture toughness due to experimental difficulties associated with testing in multidirectional laminates. A combined computational-experimental framework linking directly microscale fracture to toughness measurements for composite laminates is proposed.