Analysis of a structure modeled with intraply interface elements

A method of analyzing a structure having fibers embedded therein, the method comprising:

• producing a finite element model of the structure including one or more plies, including:
• performing a discretization of a digital model of the structure in which each ply of the one or more plies is represented by a mesh of finite elements aligned with a direction of uni-directional fibers embedded in the ply;
• and
• adding an intraply interface element between selected adjacent finite elements in the mesh of each ply to capture potential intraply failure modes, the intraply interface element being aligned with the direction of the uni-directional fibers embedded in the ply;
• and
• performing a finite element method (FEM) failure analysis of the finite element model under a load, the FEM failure analysis producing an output that indicates an extent of any of the potential intraply failure modes that result from the finite element model under the load.

A computer-readable storage medium that is non-transitory and has computer-readable program code portions stored therein that, in response to execution by a processor, cause an apparatus to at least:

• produce a finite element model of the structure including one or more plies, including the apparatus being caused to at least:
• perform a discretization of a digital model of the structure in which each ply of the one or more plies is represented by a mesh of finite elements aligned with a direction of uni-directional fibers embedded in the ply;
• and
• add an intraply interface element between selected adjacent finite elements in the mesh of each ply to capture potential intraply failure modes, the intraply interface element being aligned with the direction of the uni-directional fibers embedded in the ply;
• and
• perform a finite element method (FEM) failure analysis of the finite element model under a load, the FEM failure analysis producing an output that indicates an extent of any of the potential intraply failure modes that result from the finite element model under the load.