Modelling microbuckling failure of a composite cantilever beam made from ultra high molecular-weight polyethylene fibres

Experimental results have shown that composite cantilever beams with ultra high molecular-weight polyethylene fibres are collapsed by a new mode of microbuckling, which involves elastic bending and shearing of the plies, and plastic shear of the interfaces. Different finite element modelling strategies were employed in this study. Simulation results reveal that an enough number of interfacial cohesive layers, accurate partition of the shear stiffness between plies and interfaces, and accurate partition of the flexural stiffness between plies are important in predicting the collapse responses. The sensitivity of the predicted microbuckling responses to the overall effective shear modulus and interlaminar shear strength of long composite beams are also investigated.