Prediction for failure envelopes of composite laminates based on refined generalized method of cells

The generalized method of cells is often used in micromechanical analysis of composites. Large number of unknowns and lower computational efficiency are the shortcomings of original generalized method of cells. Here, the original method is improved by refined generalized method of cells of which unknowns are tractions of subcells in this paper. The micro-components such as fiber, matrix and interface can be modeled fully by the presented method. The macro-micro multi-scale mechanical analysis of unidirectional composite laminates can be achieved by the presented model. A prediction method combined the classical lamination theory and failure criteria of micro-components is presented. A quantitative assessment of failure envelopes is developed to evaluate the performance of failure criteria. The higher computational accuracy and universality have been demonstrated in comparison with other methods and experimental data provided by World-Wide Failure Exercise.