Spectral Stiffness Microplane Model for Quasibrittle Composite Laminates—Part I: Theory

The paper presents the spectral stiffness microplane model, which is a general constitutive model for unidirectional composite laminates, able to simulate the orthotropic stiffness, prepeak nonlinearity, failure envelopes, and, in tandem with the material characteristic length, also the post-peak softening and fracture. The framework of the microplane model is adopted. The model exploits the spectral decomposition of the transversely isotropic stiffness matrix of the material to define orthogonal strain modes at the microplane level. This decomposition is a generalization of the volumetric-deviatoric split already used by Bažant and co-workers in microplane models for concrete, steel, rocks, soils, and stiff foams. Linear strain-dependent yield limits (boundaries) are used to provide bounds for the normal and tangential microplane stresses, separately for each mode. A simple version, with an independent boundary for each mode, can capture the salient aspects of the response of a unidirectional laminate, although a version with limited mode coupling can fit the test data slightly better. The calibration of model parameters, verification by test data, and analysis of multidirectional laminates are postponed for the subsequent companion paper.